The Windows taskbar is basic at best. You get a few icons, some status indicators, and that’s about it. But the great thing about Windows is that you can always find a tool to fix whatever you don’t like about it. Taskbar Widgets is a free app that gives that basic taskbar the upgrade it deserves. It lets you add a bunch of useful widgets, so important information is only a glance away.

Time to put that wasted space to some good use

Windows 11 has had a Widgets panel since day one, but let’s be honest, it’s barely useful. There aren’t that many widgets worth using. Sure, you might find a few from third-party developers, but they’ll likely be paid ones. The biggest problem, though, is that you need to click the icon or press Win + W to access it. For me, that kind of defeats the whole point of having widgets.

Taskbar Widgets is a free, open-source app that offers widgets that Microsoft should’ve offered instead. It pins widgets to your taskbar’s empty space, so you can see things like network speeds, CPU usage, RAM consumption, music player, and plenty more. Since the taskbar is something that’s almost always visible, you can see these things no matter what you’re doing.

I’ve tried similar tools like these in the past. WindowSill, for instance, is a great app that adds a second taskbar specifically for widgets. It works well, but that second bar still takes its own space. Taskbar Widgets is different because it adds widgets on top of the taskbar you already have. It lets you use all that empty space for something you actually care about. And most importantly, it barely uses any meaningful CPU or RAM.

Something for everyone

Let’s talk about the main stuff, which is widgets themselves. Taskbar Widgets doesn’t have a massive library yet, but what’s here covers most of what you’d actually want. For starters, there’s the weather widget, and I like how it doesn’t ask for location access. You simply need to type in your city manually, and it shows the current weather conditions. Click it, and it expands into a seven-day forecast with the day’s high and low.

Then there are widgets for CPU, RAM, and disk activity, which let you see how your PC is doing in real time. The media player widget is handy too, especially if you’re into playing music and podcasts stored locally. It lets you control playback without pausing whatever you’re doing to open the actual media player.

If you’re into gaming, the Discord Voice widget shows you who’s in your call and highlights whoever’s talking. The Steam Downloads widget is another straightforward one. It shows your active game, download progress, and time remaining, which is something I feel Steam should’ve built into its own client by now.

My favorite one, though, is the one called Parking Lot. It’s a tiny shelf where you can temporarily store your files, folders, or even text. You can then drag and drop items from this shelf as needed.

All of these widgets come pre-installed, so all you really have to do is flip the right toggle and you’re set. The best part is that you can drag widgets around to reposition them. There’s no need to dig into app settings or do anything else.

Tweak everything to your liking

I’ll be honest, some of these widgets can look a bit odd when you put them together. By default, they don’t all follow one consistent theme, so the widgets can feel a bit mismatched at first.

The good news is that every widget is fully customizable, and that’s where Taskbar Widgets really redeems itself. You can change each widget’s exact positioning, colors, and refresh interval, along with a bunch of other settings.

It comes with a few quirks

Taskbar Widgets is a great free tool, but it’s not perfect. The most obvious problem here is space. Windows taskbar only has so much room to begin with, especially if you’re using your laptop screen as the only display. Between pinned shortcuts and system tray icons, there’s only so much space left to work with.

To be fair, there’s a Slider Rotation feature that helps with this. Instead of pinning a widget permanently, you can set them to rotate every few seconds. It’s a workaround, of course, but it gets the job done.

Most importantly, Taskbar Widgets is still in beta, so there are a few bugs and glitches here and there. The good thing is that the developer has shared a few quick fixes for common issues on the GitHub page. The developer has also mentioned that Windows updates can break these widgets. That’s honestly understandable, since the widgets are tied to the Windows taskbar.

Still, Taskbar Widgets is a great concept overall, and I’m rooting for the app to get better over time. If you also want to make the taskbar a little more useful, do give it a shot.