The Windows 11 Weather app RAM problem is very real: Microsoft’s built-in MSN Weather app can consume over 1.2GB of memory while doing nothing more than displaying a five-day forecast. On an 8GB system, that’s roughly 15–20% of your total RAM handed over to an ad-filled web wrapper — before you’ve even opened a browser tab. This guide shows you exactly what’s causing it, how to shut it down, and which lightweight alternatives actually do the job without the bloat.
Why Does the Windows 11 Weather App Use So Much RAM?
The short answer: it’s not a native app. The MSN Weather application shipped with Windows 11 is essentially a web wrapper — a Chromium-based shell loading a full web page (complete with embedded ads and live map tiles) every time it launches. A report from NotebookCheck confirmed that the app exceeded 1.2GB of RAM on test systems with no intensive user interaction whatsoever.
By contrast, Apple’s native macOS Weather app uses roughly 200–250MB under the same conditions — meaning the Windows 11 version consumes approximately five times more memory for an identical task. Even older versions of the Windows 10 Weather app (built on the native UWP framework) managed the same job in around 50MB. The transition to a web-wrapper architecture introduced an enormous overhead that Microsoft has yet to fully address.
The underlying culprit is the app’s reliance on MSN’s ad-serving infrastructure. Every time you open it — and sometimes even when it refreshes in the background — the app loads a web-rendered page with live ads, animated radar maps, and third-party tracking scripts. Each of those elements claims its own memory allocation, and because the wrapper doesn’t release that memory aggressively, the total footprint balloons quickly.
How Much RAM Does It Actually Waste? The Data
The figures being reported across multiple independent tests are consistent:
- 1.0–1.2GB RAM consumed during idle forecast display (Windows Latest, NotebookCheck, Tom’s Hardware — August 2026)
- ~50MB used by the legacy UWP Weather app on Windows 10 (same task)
- ~200–250MB used by macOS native Weather (same task)
- On an 8GB system, MSN Weather alone accounts for up to 20% of total available memory
This is the Windows 11 RAM hog scenario in its most visible form: a single pre-installed app silently consuming a fifth of your machine’s memory before you’ve done any real work. If you’re running a budget laptop or an older desktop, the performance hit is noticeable — slower app launches, more aggressive disk paging, and higher background CPU activity from the ad-rendering process.
For a deeper look at how Microsoft’s own native apps contribute to memory pressure across the OS, our article on Windows 11 RAM optimisation and why apps hog memory covers the WinUI 3 transition and what Microsoft’s promised fix actually means for everyday users.
How to Disable the Weather App in Windows 11 — 3 Methods
Disabling the Weather app (and the Widgets panel it lives inside) is straightforward. Choose the method that suits your setup.
Method 1: Turn Off Widgets via Settings (Fastest)
This removes the Weather widget from your taskbar and stops the app from loading on startup — no Registry editing required.
- Open Settings (Win + I).
- Go to Personalisation → Taskbar.
- Under Taskbar items, toggle Widgets to Off.
- Restart your PC or sign out and back in.
The Weather widget disappears immediately and the background MSN Weather process stops refreshing. This alone can free up several hundred megabytes of RAM.
Method 2: Disable Widgets via the Registry (IT Pros & Power Users)
For a more persistent, policy-level block — useful on shared or managed machines — the Registry approach is more robust.
- Press Win + R, type
regedit, and press Enter. - Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Dsh(create the Dsh key if it doesn’t exist). - Right-click → New → DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name it AllowNewsAndInterests.
- Set its value to 0.
- Restart your PC.
This disables the Widgets panel and the entire News and Interests feed at a system level. The MSN Weather process will no longer load at startup.
Method 3: Uninstall the MSN Weather App Entirely
If you’d rather remove the app completely rather than just hide the widget, PowerShell handles it cleanly. Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:
Get-AppxPackage *BingWeather* | Remove-AppxPackage
This fully removes the MSN Weather package. You can reinstall it from the Microsoft Store at any time if you change your mind. For a broader approach to stripping out Windows 11 pre-installed apps, our Windows 11 bloatware removal guide walks through PowerShell, Settings, and Group Policy methods safely.
Lightweight Alternatives to the Windows 11 Weather App
Once you’ve disabled or removed MSN Weather, you need a replacement that won’t recreate the same Weather app memory usage problem. Here are the best options.
1. Weather Widget (Browser-Based)
Simply bookmark a weather service like weather.com, BBC Weather, or AccuWeather and pin it as a browser tab or Progressive Web App (PWA). It only uses memory when your browser is open — no persistent background process. Typical RAM overhead: shared with your existing browser session, adding virtually nothing.
2. Windy
Available as both a website and a lightweight desktop PWA, Windy offers detailed radar maps and forecasts. As a PWA pinned in Edge or Chrome, it consumes roughly 80–120MB — a fraction of the bloated built-in app — and only runs when you actively use it.
3. Weather Bar (Third-Party App)
Several lightweight third-party apps from the Microsoft Store display current conditions and a short forecast directly in the system tray, using well under 50MB of RAM. Search the Microsoft Store for “Weather Bar” or “Weather Tray” to find options with verified reviews.
4. Clock Widgets with Weather Data
Tools like Rainmeter (free, open-source) let you pull weather data onto your desktop via a lightweight widget that typically uses 20–40MB. The weather data comes from an API call, not a full web-rendered ad page — so there’s no memory runaway.
Will Microsoft Fix the Windows 11 Weather App RAM Issue?
Microsoft has publicly acknowledged that Windows 11’s native apps consume more memory than they should, and Satya Nadella himself confirmed in mid-2026 that “quality work” on Windows 11 is a priority. The long-term fix is the migration of apps like Weather from their current web-wrapper architecture to WinUI 3 — Microsoft’s newer, genuinely native UI framework that uses significantly less memory by design.
However, no firm timeline has been given for the Weather app specifically. Until that migration happens, the disable Weather app approach above is the most reliable way to stop the memory drain on your machine today. Given the app also serves ads — unusual for a built-in OS tool — many users find they don’t miss it at all once it’s gone.
Does This Affect Your Windows 11 Licence?
No. Removing or disabling the MSN Weather app has absolutely no impact on your Windows 11 activation status or licence validity. Your licence key is tied to the OS installation, not to any specific built-in app. If you’re still running Windows 10 and this kind of background resource waste is prompting you to reconsider your setup, a clean Windows 11 installation — with bloatware removed from the start — can make a meaningful difference to day-to-day performance.
FAQ
Why does the Windows 11 Weather app use over 1GB of RAM?
The MSN Weather app is built on a Chromium-based web wrapper rather than a native Windows framework. Each time it runs, it loads a full web page with ads, animated maps, and tracking scripts — all of which claim their own memory allocations. Because the wrapper doesn’t aggressively release memory, the total footprint can exceed 1.2GB even when the app is just idling in the background.
Is it safe to uninstall the built-in Weather app?
Yes. Removing MSN Weather via PowerShell is completely safe and has no effect on Windows 11 stability or activation. You can reinstall it from the Microsoft Store at any time by searching for “MSN Weather.” Many users find they never need to reinstall it once they discover browser-based or tray-based alternatives.
How do I stop the Weather app from using RAM without uninstalling it?
The quickest fix is to disable the Widgets panel in Settings → Personalisation → Taskbar. This stops the weather widget from loading at startup and prevents background refresh cycles. For a permanent, policy-level block, use the Registry method (AllowNewsAndInterests = 0) described above. Both approaches significantly reduce or eliminate the app’s background memory footprint.
Will Microsoft fix the Windows 11 Weather app memory usage?
Microsoft has acknowledged the broader issue of high RAM usage in Windows 11 native apps and pointed to WinUI 3 as the architectural fix. A migration of Weather and similar apps to WinUI 3 would drastically reduce memory consumption, but no specific release date has been confirmed for the Weather app rewrite. The workarounds in this article are the practical solution in the meantime.
What lightweight weather alternatives work well on Windows 11?
Browser-based options (AccuWeather, BBC Weather pinned as a PWA) are the leanest choice since they share your browser’s existing memory footprint. Rainmeter with a weather widget skin is another excellent option, typically using under 40MB. All of these are dramatically more memory-efficient than the Windows 11 RAM hog that MSN Weather has become.
