Almost anything Windows introduces to their operating system pisses me off. I think one of the worst things that could have happened to all of us users out there is for Microsoft to start offering their OS for free. There is no such thing as free in this world so every time an update happens I am always concerned about what sort of garbage trap feature they are going to introduce when I am forced to do these updates.
The Bing-powered "News and Interests" icon is an absolute mess and I believe this is common with basically anything that Bing is involved in. We are NOT GOING TO USE BING Microsoft! Take a hint!
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For me, if I ever hover my mouse anywhere near that damned thing such as to change Wi-Fi networks the wheel starts spinning and the empty box just idles there, presumably timing out several times as is common with anything that MS gets their dirty hands on. It can't be minimized, it can't be shut down with CNTL ALT DELETE, you can't even "show desktop" your way out of it. You have to wait until it collects personal information about you and then shows you stories that you are almost certainly not going to read because if you do so, it simply provides them with even more information about you.
If you are like me, you just want this damn thing to go away. Thankfully, it is really easy to do so.
First off you just right click anywhere on the taskbar and then look for the options that pop up. I foolishly went into "Taskbar Settings" only to activate Edge, which is a piece of crap as well that everyone hates. The option to deactivate the news and interests is not in there. You need to look up further.
While you are in there go ahead and turn off the stupid "Cortana" button as well
Towards the top the "News and Interests" is an option and if you simply go in there and turn it off, this god-awful piece of crap will go away for good. Well, that is until another unnecessary update comes along that no one needs nor did anyone ask for.
Honestly, if it wasn't for gaming I would get away from Windows entirely. I may do that with my next computer and just deal with the fact that I am not going to have access to all the games outside of emulation.