Windows 11’s widgets board looks harmless — weather, news headlines, a calendar peeking out from the left edge of the screen. But behind it, widgets.exe can quietly sit at 15–40% CPU, keeping the processor awake, warming the chassis, and shaving battery life off your Acer laptop. Many users never even open the board; the process runs anyway, refreshing feeds in the background.

On Acer laptops the problem shows up more often for a mundane reason: Acer ships a lot of units with the widgets board enabled by default and a stack of background services already running, so the extra CPU from widgets pushes the machine over the edge into audible fan noise. The widget web content also re-renders aggressively on some Intel integrated graphics configurations, turning a lightweight panel into a constant compositor load.

You do not need the widgets board for anything essential. The fixes below go from a quick settings toggle, through process-level control, to full removal — pick the level that matches how much you value (or never use) the feature. For other background-process CPU drains, see the widgets board high CPU guide and the startup programs cleanup .

Why this happens

  • Background feed refresh: widgets poll news and weather feeds on a timer even when the board is never opened.
  • WebView2 rendering overhead: each widget is a mini web page rendered by Edge WebView2, which is far heavier than a native panel.
  • Stuck widget process: a crashed widget renderer restarts in a loop, burning CPU without ever displaying correctly.
  • Animation and transparency: the board’s animations and glass effects force constant GPU/CPU compositing on integrated graphics.
  • Multiple widget instances: failed updates can leave duplicate widget processes running simultaneously.
  • Acer background service load: Acer’s preinstalled services already tax the CPU, so widgets’ overhead becomes the visible straw.
  • Corrupted widget cache: damaged cached feed data makes the renderer retry parsing forever.

How to fix it

Work through these in order — diagnose first, then act.

Fix 1: Turn off the widgets board

The simplest fix: if you never open the board, disable it entirely and widgets.exe stops launching. This single toggle resolves the issue for the majority of users who never open the board.

  1. Right-click the taskbar, choose Taskbar settings, and toggle Widgets to Off.
  2. Open Task Manager and end any remaining widgets.exe process.
  3. Reboot and confirm widgets.exe no longer appears in Task Manager.

Fix 2: Disable widget background activity

If you like the board but not the constant CPU use, you can keep it while stopping its background refreshes. Think of the board like a browser tab: closed means idle, open means working.

  1. Open the widgets board (Windows key + W), click the gear icon, and open Widget settings.
  2. Turn off any auto-refresh or notification options the board offers.
  3. Close the board fully after use instead of leaving it open; an open board renders continuously.

Fix 3: Kill and reset the widget process

A stuck widgets.exe sometimes needs its state cleared. Resetting the Windows Web Experience Pack restores it to a clean state. A successful reset shows widgets.exe briefly active, then settling near zero.

  1. In Task Manager, end every widgets.exe process.
  2. Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps, find Windows Web Experience Pack, open Advanced options, and click Reset.
  3. Relaunch the board once with Windows key + W and watch CPU for a few minutes.

Fix 4: Uninstall the Windows Web Experience Pack

Full removal is the cleanest option for anyone who never uses widgets. It is reversible through the Microsoft Store. Removal is per-user, so other accounts on the same laptop are unaffected.

  1. Open an admin PowerShell and run: winget uninstall “Windows Web Experience Pack”.
  2. If winget is unavailable, use: Get-AppxPackage WebExperience | Remove-AppxPackage.
  3. Reboot; widgets.exe should be gone permanently. Reinstall from the Store if you change your mind.

Fix 5: Update graphics drivers

Because widgets render through WebView2 and the compositor, an outdated Intel graphics driver can multiply their CPU cost. Acer’s tested drivers are on Acer’s support site — but for the generic Intel updater use the link below. Graphics driver updates are worth doing regardless, since they benefit the whole system.

  1. Visit Intel Driver & Support Assistant to detect your graphics hardware.
  2. Install the recommended graphics driver update and reboot.
  3. Re-enable the widgets board briefly to check whether CPU usage is now reasonable.

Fix 6: Reduce visual effects

Transparency and animations force the compositor to work harder every time the board renders. Toning them down helps the whole system. These effects toggles also help DWM and general UI smoothness, not just widgets.

  1. Open Settings > Accessibility > Visual effects and turn off Transparency effects and Animation effects.
  2. In the same area, consider disabling the widgets board toggle as well.
  3. Compare Task Manager CPU before and after; the drop is often immediate.

Fix 7: Check for duplicate widget processes

Sometimes two copies of widgets.exe run after a botched update. Two copies means double the CPU for zero benefit. Duplicates almost always trace back to a failed Web Experience Pack update.

  1. In Task Manager’s Details tab, sort by name and look for multiple widgets.exe entries.
  2. End all of them, then check Startup apps in Task Manager and disable anything widget-related.
  3. If duplicates return after reboot, run the uninstall in Fix 4 to end the cycle.

Fix 8: Reduce the board’s feed workload

If you want to keep the widgets board, making it fetch less is the next best thing to disabling it. The board refreshes every enabled widget’s feed on its own timer, so trimming the widget list and disabling personalized news cuts both network activity and the WebView2 rendering that follows each refresh.

  1. Open the board with Windows key + W and click the gear icon for settings.
  2. Remove every widget you do not actively read — each one is a recurring CPU cost.
  3. Turn off personalized news and interest-based content to reduce background fetching.
  4. Close the board after each use instead of leaving it open in the background.

Closing

Widgets.exe high CPU is Windows spending real processor time on a panel most people never open. If you like the board, reset it and update your graphics drivers; if you do not, the taskbar toggle or a full uninstall ends the drain in under a minute. Either way, your Acer’s fans — and battery — will thank you.

Frequently asked questions

What is widgets.exe and is it safe?
Widgets.exe is the legitimate Windows 11 process behind the widgets board — the weather, news, and calendar panel that slides in from the left. It is published by Microsoft and safe. High CPU from it is a performance bug, not malware. The real file lives in the WindowsApps folder; if you find a widgets.exe anywhere else, such as in Downloads or Temp, treat it as suspicious and scan it.
Will removing widgets break anything in Windows 11?
No. The widgets board is a standalone feature; removing the Windows Web Experience Pack does not affect the Start menu, taskbar, search, or notifications. The taskbar weather icon simply disappears. Everything else in Windows keeps working normally, and you can reinstall the pack from the Microsoft Store at any time if you miss the board.
Why does the widgets board use CPU when I never open it?
The board refreshes its feeds in the background so content is ready the moment you open it — weather updates, news headlines, and stock tickers on a timer. Each refresh spins up WebView2 rendering. Disabling the board in taskbar settings stops the process from launching, which is why the toggle is the most effective first step for people who never use the feature.
Does disabling widgets improve battery life?
Yes, measurably on laptops. A widgets.exe process holding 10–30% CPU prevents the processor from dropping into its deep idle states, which is where battery savings come from. Users typically see less fan noise, lower idle temperatures, and longer battery life after disabling the board — especially on thin Acer models where thermal headroom is already tight.