News and Interests Showing Up and Running In Task Manager

Anonymous
2024-09-25T22:25:15+00:00

Hello,

I was checking my Task Manager today after installing Cumulative Update KB5043131 on my HP OMEN Desktop and my wife's HP Envy laptop and noticed a task called News and Interests running (see image below). We are running Win10 22H2 Build 19045.4957 . I have not noticed this before running in my Task Manager. I have News and Interests turned off in my Task Bar Settings and I do not see it but why is it all of a sudden showing up in my Task Manager. I have tried to use End Task for this but it keeps coming back after I end it. I use FireFox as my default browser and I have no interest in using this News and Interest junk now or ever. Could someone please tell me why it is there now and how I can get rid of this running in my Task Manager? I have also sent in feedback to MS Edge since I see Edge WebView2 and also to MS FeedBack Hub. Thank you.

Respectfully,

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Settings

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lmacri 2,505 Reputation points
2024-10-29T13:18:48+00:00

Hi DonT5:

Microsoft appears to have released a bug fix.

My MS Edge WebView2 Runtime (msedgewebview2.exe) updated to v130.0.2849.56 on 28-Oct-2029 and after a re-boot the News and Interests process no longer appears in my Task Manager. From Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features on my Win 10 Pro v22H2 machine:

Kudos to EricB for reporting this bug fix in their 29-Oct-2024 post # 2713239 in the AskWoody.com topic October Updates Are Out.

Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5011 * Firefox v131.0.3 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24080.9-1.1.24080.9 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.0.140-1.0.5073 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Microsoft Edge v130.0.2849.56

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Anonymous
2024-10-29T19:53:55+00:00

Thanks for the information. I'm waiting for the next few days to reinstall the Webviews2 App from the official Microsoft website to see if it installs version v130.0.2849.56 and not v130.0.2849.52.

Last hour: Windows 11 automatically installed the v130.0.2849.56 version of Webviews 2 and now everything is back to normal on Windows 11 23H2 too.

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  1. lmacri 2,505 Reputation points
    2024-11-13T12:44:13+00:00

    With EdgeWebview2 v130.0.2849.80, I still have 7 processes in News and Interests in my task manager with latest Windows 10 22H2. So, nothing "returned to normal"

    Hi CarlosUthred:

    Do you also have the current MS Edge 130.0.2849.80 (rel. 07-Nov-2024), and have you disabled News and Interests in your taskbar settings and re-booted your computer? On my Win 10 machine I right-click on an empty space on my taskbar and ENABLE News and Interests | Turn Off from the settings menu as shown below.

    Image

    Users with a Professional edition of Win 10 / Win 11 can also disable News and Interests in their Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) by going to Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | Windows Components | News and Interests and changing the policy named "Enable News and Interests on the Taskbar" from Not Configured to DISABLED.

    If the News and Interests process still appears in Task Manager after you have disabled this feature in your taskbar settings and restarted your computer I’d also advise that you permanently DISABLE your Windows Fast Startup power option as instructed in Brink’s TenForums tutorial Turn On or Off Fast Startup in Windows 10 (instructions for Win 11 users are <here>) and then restart your system a few times to see if this fixes the problem. The Fast Startup power option (also known as hybrid boot-up / hybrid shutdown) is enabled by default in Win 10 and Win 11 but it can sometimes interfere with the loading and initialization of drivers and services at boot-up and cause all sorts of unexpected glitches and problems with a wide range of programs, including firmware / software updates.

    Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5011 * Firefox v132.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24090.11-1.1.24090.11 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.1.144-1.0.5088 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Microsoft Edge v130.0.2849.80

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-11-13T09:59:35+00:00

    Thanks for the information. I'm waiting for the next few days to reinstall the Webviews2 App from the official Microsoft website to see if it installs version v130.0.2849.56 and not v130.0.2849.52.

    Last hour: Windows 11 automatically installed the v130.0.2849.56 version of Webviews 2 and now everything is back to normal on Windows 11 23H2 too.

    With EdgeWebview2 v130.0.2849.80, I still have 7 processes in News and Interests in my task manager with latest Windows 10 22H2. So, nothing "returned to normal"

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-10-28T21:25:03+00:00

    I encountered a similar issue with the Windows 11 23H2 update (KB5044285).

    Not having the Widgets installed, instead of News I just see SearchHost.exe with the various WebViews2 activities in the background.

    Every time I click reboot the PC, an error appears about an app-process that has not been closed, an then PC reboot.

    At the moment, to remedy the mess, I uninstalled WebViews2 and it no longer has any background activity.

    If I reinstall the WebViews2 application the problem appears again. So either I uninstall the WebViews2 app or I manually end all WebViews2 processes to avoid problems when stopping/rebooting the PC.

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