If you’d like to keep your lock screen clean and minimal, removing dynamic widgets such as finance, sports, and traffic will help a lot. Microsoft added these new widgets as part of a “richer weather experience” in both Windows 10 and Windows 11, with plans to add even more in the future. When you click on a widget, it opens in Microsoft Edge with more details. In this tutorial, I will show you the steps to remove dynamic widgets from the lock screen on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. Let’s get started.
Why Remove Dynamic Widgets from Lock Screen?
While the dynamic widgets on the lock screen in Windows 10 and Windows 11 may be useful for some the downside is that it clutters the lock screen.
Moreover, when you click on a widget, rather than showing more information then & there, you are forced to sign in, and a Microsoft Edge window opens to the MSN start page instead of showing more details of the widget you clicked. As you can guess, that’s a pretty bad user experience.
Add to that, you cannot pick and choose which widget you’d like to keep or remove. That means, it is an all-or-nothing deal where you keep the lock screen clean or cluttered with dynamic widgets.
So, to summarize, remove dynamic widgets from the lock screen to keep it clean and clutter-free.
Steps to Remove Dynamic Widgets from Lock Screen
To remove weather, finance, sports, and traffic dynamic widgets on the lock screen, follow the below steps.
Windows 10 Steps
1. Click the Start button and then click the Gear icon to open Settings.
2. Click on the Personalization option.
3. Go to the Lock Screen tab on the sidebar.
4. Click the icon under the “Choose one app to show detailed status on the lock screen” section.
5. Select None from the options.
6. Close the Settings app in Windows 10.
Windows 11 Steps
1. On Windows 11, press Windows key + I to open the Settings app.
2. Go to the Personalization > Lock Screen page.
3. Select None from the “Lock Screen Status” dropdown menu.
4. Close the Windows 11 Settings app.
That is it. From now on, you will not see the dynamic widgets weather, finance, sports, and traffic on the lock screen in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Additional Tips To Customize the Lock Screen
Both Windows 10 and Windows 11 include multiple options to customize and personalize the lock screen exactly the way you want.
For example, you can change the lock screen wallpaper (Windows 10) by setting up Windows Spotlight, slideshow, or a custom wallpaper.
Additionally, you can also change the lock screen timeout so that it automatically locks your computer after a certain time of inactivity.
To better protect your privacy, you can also hide your email address on the lock screen.
If needed, you can also completely disable the lock screen so that you will only see the sign-in screen. This required editing the Group Policy or Registry.
Wrapping – Cleanup the Windows Lock Screen
As you can see, if you don’t like all the additional widgets cluttering your lock screen, you can remove them quite easily by following the steps I’ve shown above. The only downside is that you will also lose access to the weather widget. If you ask me, as long as I have a clean and clutter-free lock screen, it is a fair trade.
However, if you need the weather widget, you can revert to the default settings. To do that, open the Settings app, and go to Personalization > Lock Screen. On Windows 11, select Weather and More from the “Lock Screen Status” dropdown. On Windows 10, click the icon under “Choose one app to show detailed status on the lock screen” and then select Weather and More.
Sources & Footnotes
- Weather and more on the Lock Screen – Microsoft Support
- Windows 11 — KB5035942 update with dynamic widgets
- Windows 10 — KB5035941 update with dynamic widgets
If you have any questions or need help, comment below and I will answer.
