Microsoft’s new scrolling News Bar app brings your PC back to the ‘90s
Microsoft has created a scrolling news bar app for Windows 10. It sits above the Windows taskbar and provides scrolling 24/7 news from more than 4,500 publications alongside customizable stock information. It’s very similar to scrolling news apps we used to see in the ‘90s for Windows PCs, and it was developed by Microsoft’s internal News team (formerly MSN News).
Microsoft is releasing the News Bar app as a beta for Windows 10 user this week. The settings panel has a fair amount of customization. You can position the bar at the top, bottom, left, or right-hand side of a screen and pick between images or text for news items. It also supports multiple monitors, and can be minimized if it’s distracting. You can’t customize the news, though. It’s simply top regional news, rather than the ability to follow particular topics.
The app also doesn’t respect your default browser preferences, and opens links in Microsoft’s Edge browser. There’s also no clear way to exit out of the app without first minimizing it and then closing it from the taskbar. If you simply minimizing the scrolling news it will reappear by default in two hours unless you’ve adjusted this setting to eight hours or never.
If you’re interested in trying out the scrolling News Bar app it’s available in the Microsoft Store free of charge.