The next update to Windows 10 will add news and weather content, making the taskbar more useful. It looks almost like the Start menu used to display the day's events and stories. And while this seems like a neat way to stay informed, there are drawbacks.

Windows Latest reports that this feature can only use up to 150 MB of RAM at a time. While this does not seem like a lot, one would assume that resource-constrained systems could be affected momentarily.

Fortunately, this is only when the taskbar is actively pulling information, and not always in a download state. It remains dormant throughout the day and is updated as news happens; if you are a member of the Windows Insider program's Dev Channel, you can see this feature for yourself. However, there is no telling when it will be available to all users.

That is because when something is being tested in the Insider program, it is not completely 100% locked in to arriving in the future. Microsoft must be trying to ensure that it creates the least system impact possible.

According to Microsoft's announcement, this feature is customizable and can be set to download only what you need and not content you are not interested in (just like I remove the Stocks app from my iPhone). This might reduce resource usage, but (again) only the lowest power-consuming systems would likely see a noticeable speed reduction. Given the amount of RAM available on most laptops, this would be the same as having a few more tabs open in Chrome.

We first reported on this feature in January when Microsoft officially announced it. Microsoft gets all the data for this feature from the MSN network. You must also have the new Chromium-based Microsoft downloaded to your PC to use this feature; please refer to our guide on how to update Windows 10 to make sure your PC is up to date.