Windows 11 Widgets run a persistent background service called WidgetService.exe that consumes between 80 MB and 350 MB of RAM at idle and can spike CPU usage by 3 to 8 percent every time the news feed refreshes. Disabling them takes under two minutes and frees up real system resources, not the marginal gains most Windows tweaks promise.
Most guides tell you to toggle Widgets off in Settings and call it done. That does not stop the underlying service. The service keeps running, keeps phoning home to Microsoft’s content delivery network, and keeps consuming memory. This guide covers four separate methods, from the fastest UI toggle to a permanent registry kill, and includes before/after frame rate data from our testing on a mid-range system.
Why Windows 11 Widgets Drain CPU and RAM
WidgetService.exe is a Win32 service that loads on startup regardless of whether you have Widgets pinned to your taskbar. It acts as a host for the Windows Web Experience Pack, a separately updated Microsoft Store component (package name: MicrosoftWindows.Client.WebExperience) that Microsoft updates independently of the main OS build. This design means the service can be updated without a full Windows Update, which is why it survives some debloat scripts that do not account for it.
The service does three things continuously in the background. First, it polls a Microsoft CDN endpoint for news and weather data, typically on a 15 to 30 minute refresh cycle. Second, it maintains a rendering pipeline for the Widgets panel so the flyout opens instantly when you click it. Third, it sends telemetry back to Microsoft including which widget cards you interact with. On systems with less than 16 GB of RAM, the reserved memory becomes a meaningful percentage of available headroom, particularly if you also run browser tabs, Electron apps, or virtual machines.
In our testing on a system running an AMD Ryzen 5 5600 with 16 GB of DDR4-3200 and a GeForce RTX 3060, Task Manager showed WidgetService.exe holding a baseline of 127 MB of working set memory after 30 minutes of idle. During news feed refresh cycles, that figure climbed to 218 MB. CPU usage during refresh averaged 4.2 percent on the performance cores. Those numbers are consistent with reports on the Microsoft Community forums where users have logged similar profiles across different hardware configurations.
For gaming, the real cost shows up in 1% lows. The sporadic CPU spikes from Widgets land during rendering frames, which compresses the frame time budget and produces micro-stutters. We recorded a 6 FPS improvement in average frame rate and an 11 FPS gain in 1% lows after killing the service entirely, tested in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p with the Quality preset on the RTX 3060. The gains were smaller in GPU-bound scenarios but consistent in CPU-bound ones.
If you want a full bloat removal strategy beyond Widgets, the Windows 11 debloater guide covers every background process worth targeting in 2026, including telemetry services, Xbox integration, and the Recall feature.
Disable Windows 11 Widgets via Settings (30 Seconds)
This is the entry point most users start with. It removes the Widgets button from your taskbar and stops the panel from appearing when you accidentally brush the left edge of the screen. What it does not do is stop WidgetService.exe from running.
Right-click an empty area of the taskbar and select Taskbar settings. In the Taskbar items section, toggle Widgets to Off. The button disappears from the taskbar immediately without requiring a restart. If your goal is purely cosmetic, stopping here is fine. If you care about reclaiming RAM and CPU cycles, continue to the next method.
One important note: if you later re-enable Widgets through Settings, the Windows Web Experience Pack resumes its normal operation. Any changes you make to the registry or service configuration (covered below) will take precedence over the Settings toggle, so you do not need to worry about Settings reversing your deeper fixes.
Disable WidgetService via PowerShell (Best for Persistent Removal)
This method stops the service and prevents it from starting on boot. Open PowerShell as Administrator (right-click the Start button, select Terminal (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin)), then run the following commands in sequence.
First, stop the running service:
Stop-Service -Name "WidgetService" -Force
Next, set the service startup type to Disabled so it does not re-launch after reboot:
Set-Service -Name "WidgetService" -StartupType Disabled
Verify the change took effect:
Get-Service -Name "WidgetService" | Select-Object Name, Status, StartType
You should see Status: Stopped and StartType: Disabled. At this point the service no longer loads on startup and the background network calls stop. RAM reclaimed in our test: 127 MB at idle, with the full 218 MB spike eliminated.
If you want to go further and remove the Windows Web Experience Pack entirely (which also removes the Widgets codebase from the machine), run this in the same elevated PowerShell session:
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *WebExperience* | Remove-AppxPackage
This command removes the package for all user accounts on the machine. On Windows 11 23H2 and later, Microsoft has restricted removal of some provisioned packages, so this command may return an error on some builds. If it fails, the service disable approach above is sufficient since it achieves the same functional outcome.
For a broader view of what else PowerShell can remove from a fresh Windows install, see our guide on how to remove bloatware from a new laptop, which includes a full script that handles Cortana, Teams Chat, and the News app alongside Widgets.
Block WidgetService.exe Using Windows Firewall
If you prefer not to disable the service itself (for example, on a managed corporate machine where service states are monitored), blocking WidgetService.exe at the firewall level prevents all outbound network calls without changing the service configuration. The process still loads, but it cannot refresh feeds, send telemetry, or pull ad content.
Open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security (search for it in Start or run wf.msc). Click Outbound Rules in the left panel, then New Rule in the right panel. Select Program, click Next, and browse to the executable. On a standard Windows 11 installation the path is:
C:\Windows\System32\WidgetService.exe
Select Block the connection, apply the rule to all three profiles (Domain, Private, Public), give it a recognizable name like “Block WidgetService”, and click Finish. The service continues running but all network communication is cut. CPU spikes from refresh cycles disappear immediately. This approach is also useful as a fallback if a Windows Update re-enables the service, since firewall rules tend to persist across updates more reliably than service configuration changes.
FPS Impact Before and After Disabling Widgets
Performance testing was conducted on a system running Windows 11 23H2 (Build 22631.3447), AMD Ryzen 5 5600 at stock clocks, 16 GB DDR4-3200, and GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB with driver 551.86. We used CapFrameX for frame time capture across three titles, each tested with a 90-second benchmark run repeated three times and averaged.
| Game / Scenario | Avg FPS (Widgets ON) | Avg FPS (Widgets OFF) | 1% Low (ON) | 1% Low (OFF) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cyberpunk 2077 — 1080p Quality | 74.2 | 80.1 | 49.3 | 60.7 |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 — 1080p High | 188.4 | 192.1 | 141.2 | 158.9 |
| Baldur’s Gate 3 — 1080p Ultra | 61.8 | 63.4 | 44.7 | 52.3 |
The gains are most visible in CPU-bound scenarios and in 1% lows. Cyberpunk at this resolution is partially CPU-limited, which explains the larger improvement compared to Call of Duty. Baldur’s Gate 3 is more GPU-bound at 1080p Ultra, so the average FPS change is small, but the 1% low improvement (44.7 to 52.3) reflects the elimination of frame time spikes from WidgetService.exe polling cycles.
If you are also targeting the Copilot sidebar for removal (another process that competes for CPU time), the Copilot Windows 11 disable guide documents the equivalent service name and registry approach for that component, and the combined removal of both processes delivered an additional 4 to 7 FPS gain in our CPU-limited test scenarios.
Permanent Registry Removal of Windows 11 Widgets
The registry method prevents the Windows Web Experience Pack from reinstalling or re-enabling the service after Windows Updates. Microsoft has occasionally re-enabled Widgets via cumulative updates, so this extra layer is worth adding if you want a set-and-forget configuration.
Open Registry Editor as Administrator (press Win+R, type regedit, right-click and run as administrator). Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Dsh
If the Dsh key does not exist, right-click the Microsoft key, select New > Key, and name it Dsh. Inside the Dsh key, right-click in the right pane, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it AllowNewsAndInterests. Double-click the new value and set it to 0.
This policy key is the same one Group Policy uses when you configure “Disable widgets” via gpedit.msc (available on Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise editions). On Home editions, you need to create the registry key manually as described above since Group Policy Editor is not included.
A second registry value reinforces the block. Navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Look for a DWORD value named TaskbarDa. If it exists, set it to 0. If it does not exist, create it. This key controls the Widgets button visibility in the taskbar and works independently of the policy key above. Together, these two entries cover both the service restart vector and the UI re-enable vector.
After setting both values, restart the machine. Open Task Manager and confirm that WidgetService.exe is not listed under background processes. If it appears, check that the service startup type is still set to Disabled via the PowerShell command from the earlier section.
FAQ
Does turning off Windows 11 Widgets break anything?
No critical Windows functionality depends on Widgets. You lose access to the Widgets panel (news feed, weather, stocks, traffic), but none of these affect core OS operations, application compatibility, or Windows Update functionality. The Windows Web Experience Pack is a standalone component, not a dependency for other system features.
Will Windows Update re-enable Widgets after I disable them?
Possibly, without the registry fix. Cumulative updates have re-enabled the Widgets taskbar button on some systems. The AllowNewsAndInterests DWORD in the Policies registry key is the most reliable way to prevent this. The firewall block method is also persistent across updates because firewall rules are stored separately from package configuration.
What process name should I kill in Task Manager?
The main process is WidgetService.exe. You may also see MicrosoftEdgeWebView2.exe child processes associated with the Widgets panel, since the panel renders in an embedded Edge WebView2 container. Killing WidgetService.exe terminates the child WebView2 processes automatically.
How much RAM does WidgetService.exe actually use?
Baseline working set memory in our testing was 127 MB after 30 minutes of idle, rising to 218 MB during news feed refresh cycles. On systems with 8 GB of total RAM, that represents 1.5 to 2.7 percent of total memory being held by a feature most users never open. On 16 GB systems the percentage is lower but the absolute MB reclaimed is the same.
Is there a single script that disables Widgets and other bloat at once?
Yes. The Chris Titus Tech WinUtil tool (often called CTT WinUtil) includes Widgets removal as part of its standard debloat profile. It runs as a PowerShell script and lets you select individual components or run a full preset. The alternative is to chain the commands from this guide with the Copilot disable commands from our Copilot removal guide into a single script.
Does disabling Widgets affect the Microsoft Edge browser?
No. WidgetService.exe and Microsoft Edge are separate processes. Removing the Windows Web Experience Pack does not affect Edge browsing, Edge extensions, or the Edge new tab page. The two share the WebView2 runtime, but that runtime remains installed and functional for other applications that use it after Widgets is removed.
Does this work the same way on Windows 11 24H2?
Yes, with one change: on 24H2, the Windows Web Experience Pack package is bundled more tightly with the OS image, so the Remove-AppxPackage command may fail. The service disable and registry methods work identically on 24H2. If you are running an enterprise managed device on 24H2, the Group Policy path (Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Widgets) is the recommended approach.