The Windows taskbar is an institution of sorts, and little has changed over the years, at least in terms of groundbreaking adjustments. The taskbar is there when you need it, and all the useful tools and programs are just a click away.

And according to a post on Microsoft's Windows blog, the taskbar has new tools. According to the company, Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 21286 adds news and weather widgets to the Windows 10 taskbar.

With the addition of these two widgets, users will be able to quickly view the latest news, weather, and stock quotes from the taskbar instead of opening the Start menu or heading elsewhere.

This rollout brings a miniature collection of content that pops up on the screen to the taskbar. This new feature relies on Microsoft News, which collects more than 4,500 sources and offers a variety of news feeds that can be curated to your liking.

But there's a catch. The links automatically open in Edge, which requires the Microsoft Edge browser to be installed on your computer. It is not clear if this behavior can be changed, but everything you click on will be opened in the Edge browser and displayed in the leading view. [If you are not interested in using the taskbar as a miniature RSS feed, you can disable this feature. This seems to be just another way to interact with content without having to bother opening an app or accessing the Internet for what you want to see that day. Microsoft says it won't even display ads.

Last year, the Windows 10 Start menu underwent a sort of drastic redesign; according to Brandon LeBlanc of the Windows 10 Insider Program, it was more nuanced and "beautiful." The icons for built-in apps such as Mail, Calendar, and Calculator were also redesigned. As a result, the Start menu was more streamlined and some of the deep, brightly colored blocks were removed.

At the time, the team teased that they would be testing a "more personalized" taskbar, which was intended to give users "a cleaner, more personalized, out-of-the-box experience, providing the content they need and reducing clutter." .

The new Windows 10 Taskbar is available today to certain testers who are part of the Windows Insider developer channel. Its mass rollout will include the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and India, initially later this year.