Windows Weekly (MP3) 6i3x13

Microsoft shakes up Windows Update with third-party app integration while AI features flood into Paint, Notepad, and Snipping Tool. Plus, the browser wars heat up as Arc pivots to agentic AI and Opera launches Neon, while Richard calls in from Cape Town with whiskey wisdom. Windows 11 It's Week D! Microsoft issues preview updates for 23H2/22H2 - Windows Key + C for Copilot, Drag tray, FAQs in Settings, Lock screen widget customization, IT controls for Taskbar Windows Insider Program Canary - Microsoft adds for asymmetrical key encryption that won't be vulnerable to quantum computing attacks Beta (24H2) - New Microsoft 365 text actions in Click to Do, Lock screen widget customization, multiple dashboards in Widgets, App recommendations in Open with dialog, PC to PC migration experience in Windows Backup New Paint, Notepad, and Snipping Tool features in Canary and Dev - Paint sticker generator and Object select tool, Snipping Tool perfect screenshot and color picker, Notepad writing tools (draft from prompt, rewrite text, etc.) Now Windows Update is going to update third-party apps too. Thoughts? Many misunderstand this to negatively impact the Microsoft Store. As promised last week, Notion is now available in the Microsoft Store Signal will explicitly prevent Recall from screenshotting the app Related: Why is Lenovo doing so well financially? Also related: IDC predicts 4.1 percent growth in PC market this year to 274 million units AI and Web Browsers, Oh My Browsers go agentic The Browser Company says it will no longer offer functional updates to Arc as it focuses on Dia Opera announces Neon, its agentic AI web browser Hand-wringing as OpenAI buys Jony Ive's newish company Duck.ai if you ask it nicely (and use the right model) Yes, Google is going to put ads in Search AI Mode Vivaldi 7.4 arrives for desktop and for mobile Firefox 139 is a minor update - maybe it's time to move to a 6 week schedule? Xbox and Games Xbox's Copilot for Gaming Launches on iOS and Android in Beta FTC drops its bid to unwind Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard Sony discounts PS5 and peripherals temporary to undercut Switch 2 Tips and Picks Tip of the Week: 'Fear and Loathing in Seattle' and 'More Fear and Loathing in Seattle' App Pick of the Week: Instapaper Plus: Fences 6 is GA on Windows 11 RunAs Radio This Week: How to Talk to Security with Sarah Young Brown Liquor Pick of the Week: Aerstone 10 Sea Cask Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! what you love and get ad-free shows, a -only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: Melissa.com/twit cachefly.com/twit

Agentic AI is the theme of the show this year, and this time its multi-agent with orchestration! But first, we need to discuss the protestors. Paul and Richard have stories. So many stories! Build 2025 New Microsoft 365 Copilot features are rolling out now because it's a day that ends in y Tuning is the unexpected Build Bingo center square term - rolling out to agents GitHub Copilot is open source in VS Code, more Win32 app improvements, no more fees in Microsoft Store A shift in making Windows 11 the best place for developers - some things said, some left unsaid Edge gets new AI features too of course New native app capabilities in Windows App SDK, React Native And, pre-Build, 50 million Visual Studio s Copilot for consumers does image generation now. Fun tip: You can Minecraft-ize photos OpenAI has a coding agent too, obviously And OpenAI is buying Jony Ive! Windows Protection is coming soon - And not just for businesses. This feels very much like the firewall in XP SP2, it's going to be disruptive New 24H2 features in Release Preview: New text actions in Click to Do, a lot more New 24H2 features in Dev and Beta: AI actions in File Explorer, Advanced Settings, Search improvements, more New 23H2 features, Windows 10 features in Release Preview Surface Laptop Studio RIP Calendar companion app for Windows 11/M365 Microsoft may finally put the Teams antitrust issue in the EU behind Xbox Fortnite returns to the Apple App Store Apple blocked it first, Epic complained to judge And Microsoft files a legal motion against Apple and for Epic Games Qualcomm job listing confirms Xbox plans to some degree What happens when you combine Qualcomm NPU with Nvidia GPU? Xbox May Update arrives and it's a big one Retro Classic Games for Xbox Game Game Bar updates, Edge Game Assist, GeForce now etc. on PC Custom Xbox gift cards More streaming of your own games Hellblade II is coming from Xbox to PS5 Many more games coming to Xbox Game across platforms Tips and Picks App pick of the week: You can try Microsoft's command line editor now Game pick of the week: Doom: The Dark Ages RunAs Radio this week: PowerShell 7.5 and DSC 3.0.0 with Jason Helmick Brown liquor pick of the week: Tamnavulin Sherry Cask Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! what you love and get ad-free shows, a -only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: spaceship.com/twit uscloud.com

It's go time: The biggest Patch Tuesday of 2025 sets the stage for 2025! Microsoft has finally revealed whether it will further extend Windows 10 past October (it won't). Also, Microsoft designed notifications in Windows 11 to be annoying and pointless, so Paul has some advice. Plus, Proton Drive gets a long awaited albums feature, and more on the way.Windows 11 Recall (preview) and Click to Do (preview) come to stable for the first time Let's give Microsoft a bit of credit for this one non-reported behavior Also: Improvements to Settings, Narrator, Start, Phone Link, Widgets, File Explorer You knew this was coming: Microsoft now testing a "Hey, Copilot" feature It's opt-in and an alternative to holding down Alt + Spacebar for two seconds Microsoft discusses the new Start design and it's not a s#$t show like it was three years ago No builds for the second Friday in a row Improvements to Settings AI agent, intelligent text actions in Click to Do, a few small changes come to 24H2 in Dev and Beta channels Copilot Vision gets Highlights and 2-App across all channels Google's big Android reveal includes Material Expressive, big Wear OS update. Android, like Windows 11 (and iOS) is just being updated all the time now Windows 10 Extended program Will Microsoft 365 on Windows 10 through October 2028 Those time frames are identical So what about those Surface PCs that can't Windows 11? Microsoft has an answer (for all uned PCs) and it's not as cynical as you think Microsoft quietly discontinued entry-level 13.8-inch Surface Laptop and 13-inch Surface Pro when it introduced those smaller new models last week Layoffs Microsoft just made $70 billion, so naturally it's laying off employees. How to explain this? The FTC's losing streak against Microsoft continues A proposal for solving the "Mozilla problem" in U.S. v. Google Fortnite could return to the iPhone App Store as soon as today AI OH MY GOD IS THERE NO AI NEWS FOR ONCE. OK, three small items OpenAI brings OneDrive and SharePoint integration with ChatGPT for paid business customers "AI mode" could replace "I'm feeling lucky" on the Google home page Spotify's AI DJ keeps improving Dev Build is next week in Seattle, a few thoughts .NET 10 Preview 4 is out Xbox & Games Today's the day: DOOM: The Dark Ages goes live at 8:00 ET tonight! Xbox Insiders can now play cloud-enabled games with mouse and keyboard Paul reviews the Backbone Pro controller Nintendo revenues slide big ahead of Switch 2 - 15m consoles expected in first year Sony sold 18.5 million PS5s in the most recent fiscal year, down 11 percent YOY Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Windows 11 notifications make iOS look sophisticated App pick of the week: Proton Drive RunAs Radio this week: Active Directory in 2025 with Liz Tesch Brown liquor pick of the week: Limeburners Albany Tawny Cask These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/932 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsors: 1.com/windowsweekly threatlocker.com/twit uscloud.com

Microsoft announces big changes to Windows 11: New Start menu, Phone Companion on Start, AI actions in File Explorer, Notepad and other updates. Plus, new Copilot+ PC features: Click to Do actions, AI agent in Search for some reason, new Photos, Paint, and Snipping Tool features, and more. Windows 11 Microsoft announces new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop models after teasing the announcement last week Recall improvements, Taskbar improvements, HDR improvements, more come to Beta and Dev Windows 11 Enterprise 24H2 to start on hotpatching, same schedule as Windows Server 2025 A moment of silence for Skype, we didn't know what we had until you ensh*ttified and then killed it Google is secretly working on two major changes for Android 16+ - We need something like this for 25H2 Antitrust Apple is slapped down hard by Judge in Epic v. Apple Spotify, Amazon, Proton and many other change apps to avoid Apple Tax The walls are finally tumbling down for Big Tech US v. Google (ads) has a remedy hearing set for September, that should go well AI Open AI: just kidding about that for-profit thing. Did Microsoft squelch this plan? Google's Little Language Lessons looks like a neat use of AI GitHub Copilot now has over 15 million s Xbox & gaming FTC may have suffered its final defeat in trying to end Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard Xbox/ASUS portable gaming device leaks Good news! Xbox consoles are more expensive now! Wait. New DOOM game and more are coming to Game this month Gears of War Remastered coming to Xbox, PS5, PC, Game in August Minecraft drops VR/MR GTA VI delayed until 2026 Backbone Pro works with phones directly but also tablets, PCs, and more wirelessly Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Go less App pick of the week: Microsoft Authenticator RunAs Radio this week: Building a Career in Cybersecurity with Yuri Diogenes Brown liquor pick of the week: Jura 10 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! what you love and get ad-free shows, a -only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsor: uscloud.com

YOU ARE THE PRODUCT! But... are you? In Russia, Windows 11 uses you! Plus, something happened to Paul on the way to dual-booting Ubuntu 25.04 on Surface Laptop 7, but all is well! Also, you should be using Brave. But if you don't like/trust Chromium, Firefox 138 finally added profile management . Windows Windows 11 24H2 preview update for April finally arrives Now we know why Microsoft waited: It wanted to announce the "general availability" of Recall, Click to Do, and "improved Windows Search" (we're still struggling with a name for that one) Dev and Beta (24H2) builds add a profanity filter, a Pen shortcut for Click to Do, improved Windows Search for work and school s, Accessibility flyout in Quick settings Microsoft (sort of) explains why Windows Insider Preview channels don't follow a logical order anymore Microsoft deprecates Map app in Windows 11 That makes sense. But also VBS Enclaves in pre-24H2 versions, which is interesting Corporate Microsoft says it will defend EU companies against US government Alphabet/Google is doing just great, thanks Intel earnings are flat, and that's as good as that news gets Samsung posts record revenues on strong S25 series sales Dev Build and Google I/O are coming in hot Google is holding a separate Android event for the first time, ahead of I/O What about Surface? At Build last year, the company announced Copilot+ PC AI Microsoft has an OpenAI problem - duh and/or hello Microsoft is part of an AI unholy quaternity on new Moto phones Duolingo announces controversial "AI first" strategy - And then announces 148 new AI-based courses Apple on Apple Intelligence: Just kidding! OpenAI on GPT-4o: Just kidding! ChatGPT goes shopping and OpenAI improves Deep Research Google updates NotebookLM audio overviews with for over 50 languages YouTube starts testing AI overviews for videos - and Spotify is using AI for playlists Adobe updates Firefly models, adds third party DuckDuckGo's Duck.ai now s real-time model switching Meta launches a standalone AI app that no one should want Xbox Xbox-exclusive game Towerborne is here in preview on Xbox, PC, and Game Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Be prepared App pick of the week: Firefox 138 RunAs Radio this week: Modern Work in 2025 with Karoliina Kettukari Brown liquor pick of the week: Highwayman Whisky Abbey 2024 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! what you love and get ad-free shows, a -only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: uscloud.com cachefly.com/twit

It's Week D, do you know where your preview update is? 23H2 is out - 24H2, not so much! No surprises in the new features list, but are more new features on the way? Windows New text actions in Click to Do - Practice in Reading Coach and Read with Immersive Reader - in Dev and Beta (24H2) Find cloud-based (OneDrive-based) photos using Semantic search - Comes to EEA, Snapdragon X only for now, Dev and Beta Voice access improvements - add words to custom dictionary - Dev and Beta Updated green screen UI - latest Canary build, from today Minor update to the Beta/23H2 channel, no new features Ubuntu 25.04 is out and there's a native Arm64 ISO (!) and BitLocker Hands-on with WSL (which is stuck at 24.xx) and in Hyper-V on a Copilot+ PC Is dual-boot even possible on Arm? (Yet) Friday night update to identity caused s to be marked as leaked for 50,000 partner s AI We're in a new wave: Microsoft 365 Copilot updated, new Agent Store and more on the way Copilot Vision is now free for everyone in Microsoft Edge Google is giving Gemini Advanced/Google One AI away for free to US college students Google estimates its Gemini AI chatbot had 35M DAUs and 350M MAUs worldwide as of last month while ChatGPT had 160M DAUs and 600M MAUs (Erin Woo/The Information) Perplexity is coming to Samsung and Motorola phones - and Microsoft is apparently coming to Motorola too Antitrust It's getting real - 20 years after US v. Microsoft, Big Tech is finally getting a reckoning Google has now lost two major US antitrust cases in less than a year US v. Google (search): DOJ wants Judge to break up Google US v. Google (ads): Google found to have another illegal monopoly What's the "right" outcome for Chrome and Google's ad businesses? OpenAI says it would be happy to buy Chrome from Google- hilarious Google just killed Privacy Sandbox, cites regulatory climate Apple, Meta fined by EU for not conforming to the DMA Apple Intelligence is no longer "available now" (Siri: Is it raining?) Xbox/gaming Elder Scrolls IV Remastered lands on Xbox, PC, PS5 and Game Xbox app arrives on LG smart TVs It's (back) on: Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders rescheduled to April 24 with no price change And the demand is higher than expected, Nintendo says Tips and Picks Tip of the week: It's time to look at Google Fi again HARDWARE pick of the week: Microsoft keyboards and mice are back, baby RunAs Radio this week: Agentic AI for IT Pros with Tim Warner Brown liquor pick of the week: Dark Harmony No. 3 Black IPA Cask Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! what you love and get ad-free shows, a -only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsor: spaceship.com/twit

Paul, Leo, and Richard get into new Windows features (thanks to the Feature Tracker), hardware shifts for Microsoft/Intel/Apple, AI moves from OpenAI/Apple/Adobe, Notion Mail, a Hawaiian drink, the National Recording Registry, rice cookers, and electronic timer tunes! Windows 11 Feature Tracker. Since we last talked, Microsoft has announced the following new features for Windows 11: Semantic search can now search for Windows settings using natural language - Dev and Beta (24H2) channels, no clear stable date but guessing June Narrator can more accurately describe images by detailing the people, objects, colours, text, and numbers in them, Snapdragon X only, same builds as above Snipping Tool with "Text extraction" in the capture bar - This in Canary now, but it was in at least Dev previously, this could ship in stable at any time, it's an app Recall (preview) and Click to Do (preview) head to the Release Preview channel (24H2) - Expect this in May Patch Tuesday Narrator speech recap, Phone Link/Start integration, File Explorer Home updates, Windows Share with Edit all head to Release Preview (23H2) - Expect these in May Patch Tuesday - They were added to Beta channel (23H2) a few days earlier Plus, Microsoft Edge is up to 9 percent faster at web rendering and we're having a fiesta Also, the Windows 95 startup/ chime has been inducted into the National Recording Registry Hardware Surface Hub OG hits EOL this year just like Windows 10 First major change under new Intel CEO What's a computer? The iPad, supposedly, but we'll see Everything's fine, but Google laid off hundreds in Pixel/Android group AI Apple is making big changes so that Apple Intelligence will actually be intelligent Adobe is going agentic too OpenAI is creating its own social network because the world needs another social network OpenAI announces three GPT-4.1 models - may retire GPT-4 soon - plus now o3 and o4-mini models ChapGPT gets an image library and a memory Claude gets Research and Google Workspace integration Meta will start training its AI models with EU data, wink wink Xbox and games Xbox app on mobile will soon let you buy games (!) and add-on content, Game , and redeem perks. Did Microsoft get a concession from Apple/Google?? COD: Modern Warfare II (OG) and more are coming to Game in the next few weeks Xbox announces Doom: The Dark Ages limited edition accessories Sea of Thieves is coming to Battle.net Sony forced to raise the price of PS5 in three locales Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Think like an individual, not an enterprise App pick of the week: Notion Mail RunAs Radio this week: How to Not Hate PowerShell with Barbara Forbes Brown liquor pick of the week: 12th Hawaii Distiller's Reserve Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! what you love and get ad-free shows, a -only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: 1.com/windowsweekly uscloud.com

Introducing the Windows 11 Feature Tracker "From the 'I should have done this two years ago' files, the 'I have wasted my life' files, and the, 'great, I needed more work to do' files ... There is a need for this. So I made one. But it will evolve. Maybe into a web app/wiki/something else... like a Notion website?" - Paul Patch Tuesday brings a metric ton of new features - And what the tracker showed clearly Two seconds after posting the tracker, Microsoft changed the Copilot app yet again - proving the need for the tracker - And demonstrating why the Insider Program is so screwed up A hidden new Start menu in recent builds presents an interesting conundrum: How to handle something Microsoft has not announced? More Windows 11 Beta build for 23H2: File new tab/new window changes, Explorer context menu regression may be permanent Dev and Beta (24H2): Taskbar icon scaling is a blast from the past we all need desperately Intel is killing Unison app and service Like winter, Build is coming Build session catalog is live - mostly AI as expected. Paul and Richard are going Overview of the Windows Copilot Runtime (one year after it was announced), Windows Actions, standard Kayla Cinnamon talk on Windows productivity, using your own model with WCR, native app experiences(!), Arm64 app perf, etc. AI Final thoughts on Microsoft's 50th: Biggest accomplishment wasn't any tech, it was changing with the times. What it's best at: Democratizing tech for the commoners, an expansion on Jack Tramiel/Commodore's "computers for the masses, not the classes" schtick. And that is exactly what it is doing with AI right now Microsoft hosts a consumer AI event and announces a metric ton of new Copilot features We need a Copilot feature tracker. Copilot = every single feature other AIs have - Copilot Actions on the web, memory and personalization, Copilot Vision on mobile and Windows, AI-generated podcasts and Microsoft releases Copilot Search in Bing Is AI turning us all into Charly from Flowers for Algernon? AI is making us stupider! There are studies!! This is the argument against every single tech advance from the steam train to the ballpoint pen to this Microsoft's AI demo of vibe-coded Quake II highlights the problem nicely Sometimes it's the little things: AI recaps for book series in Kindle GitHub Copilot updated with Agent Mode, Cursor-style code overviews, more Xbox & gaming Microsoft announces new Xbox Games Showcase for June Edge Game Assist gets new features, for new games GTA V and enhanced version for PC coming to Game on April 15 - In addition to the previous Game titles we discussed last week Good: Nintendo Switch 2 s ray tracing and DLSS Bad: Nintendo delays Switch 2 to figure out the tariffs mess Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Programmers at Work App pick of the week: Apple Music RunAs Radio this week: Application Risk in Security Copilot with Ari Schorr Brown liquor pick of the week: The Heart Cut #02 These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/927 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Bill Gates celebrates the 50th anniversary of Microsoft with the release of the source code for Altair BASIC 1.0. Plus, Paul celebrates with 99 cent books: The Windows 10 Field Guide, Windows 11 Field Guide, and Windows Everywhere are all 99 cents for 24 hours! Also available: Eternal Spring: Our Guide to Mexico City in preview!Windows The plot thickens. Paul writes epic take on future of Windows 11, describes Dev channel-only features and when/if they were ever released - in other words, an extensive but partial Windows 11 feature roap for 2025 Two days later, Microsoft announces a Windows 11 feature road map - one that is woefully incomplete, pathetic, and sad Microsoft announces when (sort of) new on-device AI features will come to all Copilot+ PCs, meaning Intel and AMD, too - "not a glimpse at the future of the PC, but the future of the PC." Live captions with live language translations, Cocreator in Paint, Restyle image and Image creator in Photos, plus Voice access with flexible natural language (Snapdragon X only) But not Recall or Click to Do in preview, go figure As expected, March 2024 Preview update for 24H2 arrives, a few days late - with AI-powered search experience enabled Dev and Beta builds - Friday - Quick Machine Recovery (Beta only?), Speech recap in Narrator, Blue screen to get less blue, WinKey + C shortcut for Copilot returns, Spanish and French Text actions in Click to Do, Edit images in Share, AI-powered search (Dev only?) Then, Microsoft more fully describes Windows Quick Recovery Beta (23H2) - Monday - A lot of familiar 24H2 features - Narrator improvements, Copilot WinKey + C, Share with Image edit, plus System > About FAQ for some freaking reason Proton Drive is now native on Windows 11 on Arm, everyone gets new features Proton VPN is now built into Vivaldi desktop browser Intel's new CEO appears in public, vows to spin off non-core businesses. Everything but x86 chip design and Foundry, then Microsoft 365 Windows 365 Link is now available The Office apps on Windows already launch instantaneously but apparently that's not invasive enough - we need fewer auto-start items, not more of them Microsoft Excel to call out rich data cells with value tokens AI & Dev NYT copyright infringement lawsuit against Open AI and Microsoft can move forward, judge rules And now Tim O'Reilly says Open AI stole his company's paywalled book content too. Book piracy is sadly the easiest thing in the world Open AI raised more money than any private firm in history, now worth $300B ChatGPT releases awesome new image generation feature for ChatGPT And now it's available for free to everyone Google's Gemini Pro 2.5 is now available to everyone too Amazon launches Alexa+ in early access, US only Some thoughts about vibe coding, which isn't what you think it is AMD pays $4.9 billion to take on Nvidia in cloud AI Apple Intelligence + Apple Health is the future of something something Xbox & Games Nintendo announces Switch 2. Looks awesome, coming earlier than expected. But that price! And no Xbox/COD news at the launch?? Luna's not dead! Amazon announces multi-year EA partnership, expands Luna to more EU countries Microsoft announces a new Xbox Backbone controller for smartphones New titles for Xbox Game across PC, Tip These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/926 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Security Copilot agents, Cursor, AC Shadows Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell For full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/925 Sponsors: Melissa.com/twit cachefly.com/twit

Did Copilot uninstall from your computer recently? You're not alone. At least Microsoft is working on a fix. Plus, Satya Nadella has created a new Office of Strategy and Transformation to meet the rapidly evolving needs of the AI era. Discord finally has a Social SDK now, Copilot for Gaming is preparing for mobile testing, and a Call of Duty franchise sale that brings savings up to 67 percent off. Lastly, Paul's app pick is a free, open source, third-party File Explorer replacement that is beautiful and highly customizable. And it never badgers you to backup to OneDrive. Windows March security update hilariously removes Copilot app from Windows 11 New Canary build today Release Preview (today): 24H2 ahead of Week D Release Preview: 23H2 and Windows 10 ahead of Week D Dev, Beta, Beta (23H3) - Voice access suggestions, File Explorer fix Paint is getting new Cocreator features New Notepad and Snipping Tool features for all Microsoft Microsoft announces vague transformation that could be important FTC to move forward with Microsoft antitrust probe Microsoft no longer includes power supply with Surface PCs sold in Europe AI/Dev Gemini adds Canvas and Audio Overview features Plus, Gemini is replacing Assistant in Android (and Chromebook) Zoom AI Companion is going agentic Meta claims one billion s of Llama AI models Microsoft ships .NET 10 Preview 2 Xbox Microsoft is bringing Copilot to Xbox Xbox Adaptive Joystick is now available for $29.99 Here are the new games heading to Game in second half of March Epic Games and Qualcomm partner on bringing games to WOA Discord has an SDK now Google Play Games for PC is adding native games Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Call of Duty titles are on sale in the Microsoft Store App pick of the week: Files RunAs Radio this week: Managing AI Costs with Sonia Cuff Brown liquor pick of the week: Toki Suntory Whisky Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! what you love and get ad-free shows, a -only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: uscloud.com zscaler.com/security 1.com/windowsweekly

Your Patch Tuesday is showing. Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Leo Laporte go over the latest features for Windows 11 with the KB5053598 update. Also, the hosts discuss Press to Talk for Insiders, the Windows app replacing Remote Desktop, the agentic future of browsers, Copilot integration in GroupMe, Gemma 3, issues with Xbox Wireless Controller 5.23.5.0 firmware, Pocket Casts Web Player, and the "vibe coding" era. Plus, Fences 6 is now in Beta, on sale! Woody Leonhard, RIP Like Jerry Pournelle, a major influence on Paul's career and writing style He had a mysterious life in latter years, not clear what happened Windows 11 Windows 11 gets all the features we've discussed recently Are we heading towards something bigger this year? Or just more of the same? New Canary and Beta (23H2) builds New Dev and Beta (24H2) builds Copilot in Windows 11 is getting Press to Talk Microsoft follows through on threat, kills Remote Desktop App - our latest outrage Arc crashed and burned but we can still evolve web browsers What about sidebar apps as a UX baby step forward? Does Edge need to restart every three days now to install updates? Microsoft 365 Google promotes ChromeOS/Chromebooks as the right client ... for Microsoft 365 Dev Build 2025 registration is now open AI It's Microsoft's 50th anniversary, so it's going to announce AI something something Paul has agreed to attend this, from Mexico Also, report that Microsoft's in-house models now rival OpenAI is a hint Microsoft improves Think Deeper in Copilot using OpenAI o3-mini Google secretly owns 14-15 percent of Anthropic WTF is going on with Big Tech and regulatory evasion? On that note, CMA clears Microsoft + OpenAI specifically because of change to partnership Also, Google launches Gemma 3 The Siripocalypse - AI is a hard computer science problem and Siri is the dumb blond in this space Amazon will use AI to dub movies and TV series because obviously Xbox Rumor: Third-party portable Xbox gaming handheld this year, console resets in two years You could have cobbled this together solely based on what Microsoft has said publicly Xbox controller firmware, we have a problem Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Code with AI App pick of the week: Fences RunAs Radio this week: Strong Certificate Mapping in Active Directory with Richard Hicks Brown liquor pick of the week: Ardbeg 10 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! what you love and get ad-free shows, a -only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsor: 1.com/windowsweekly

Skype to EOL in May, replaced by the consumer Teams client, which is surprisingly good now. There are three possible responses to this: - "They still make Skype?" - The 13 people who rely on Skype for calling landlines come out of the woodwork. - "Come on, Microsoft telegraphed this two years ago" Plus, Opera previews what an AI agent in a browser can be used for. Firefox 136 now comes with vertical tabs (again), updated sidebar, AI chatbots, and more. And a Google-related tip that lets one see what it's like to live in the EU, minus the universal health care and other social safety nets. Windows Microsoft FINALLY updates the Copilot app in Windows 11 for the 127th time - What Microsoft didn't tell anyone. Arrives just after the release of a native Mac client Three months of Recall, and it IS controversial, just not for the reasons you think Dev and Beta (last week): lock screen widget customizing (finally), Windows Share updates (again), Task Manager U usage calculation change (seriously), more It may be controversial at Linux, but not at Microsoft, which is all-in on Rust Intel delays Ohio fabs until after the earth careens into the sun Dell up 7 percent to $23.9 billion ($11.9 billion from PCs) HP up 2.4 percent to $13.5 billion ($9.2 billion from PCs) Intel brings Core Ultra Series 2 "Arrow Lake" chips to commercial market Microsoft 365 Microsoft finally puts Skype out of its misery A look back at 22 years of Skype Outlook Mobile gets delivery and read receipts AI USA! USA! USA! Microsoft makes AI export changes easy to understand for our stupid government OpenAI announces GPT-4.5, its final non-reasoning model Microsoft brings new local distilled DeepSeek models to Copilot+ PCs, starting with Snapdragon X - a little hands-on Microsoft announces Dragon Copilot for clinical workflow Stability AI + Arm Holdings = generative AI audio, more to come Scam Detection in Messages for Pixel and Android Gemini improvements including features Apple's struggles with AI are real. Just ask Siri. Kidding, no one asks Siri anything Xbox New Game titles for first half of March Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3+4 coming to all platforms including Game on July 11 Sony slashes prices on VR2 months after it stopped building it Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Remove yourself from Google Search results App pick of the week: Mo' browsers! RunAs Radio this week: Secure by Design with Karinne Bessette Brown liquor pick of the week: Knappogue Castle 16 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! what you love and get ad-free shows, a -only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: uscloud.com zscaler.com/security

Week D - If a preview update falls in the woods and no one s it, did it really happen? Plus, what is going on with AI for free? Isn't this stuff expensive? Windows 23H2/24H2: Taskbar share, Spotlight updates, Windows Backup snooze in File Explorer, etc. Dev and Beta - Semantic search adds OneDrive photo search to Search (was in File Explorer previously), plus the Recall reboot no one is explaining. And Trim comes to Snipping Tool (Canary and Dev) Beta (23H2) - Share gets a drag tray and Start All apps gets new Grid and Category views Lenovo revenues surge 20 percent Framework announces Ryzen AI-based Laptop 13, plus Laptop 12 and Desktop Opera adds Bluesky, Discord, and Slack to the sidebar Microsoft 365 Microsoft confuses us with a test of a free, ad-ed core Office suite for Windows Amazon kills Chime, will use Zoom, Teams, and more Amazon kills Appstore for Android Google to drop SMS-based 2FA, move to QR codes Paul continues with his SSO removals, an update on whether this impacts availability AI/Dev Following up the previous discussion with an interesting way to use an AI chatbot Alexa enters the AI era OpenAI now has 400 million weekly active s Microsoft cancels some AI datacenter leases, but it's not done spending billions on AI Anthropic releases first reasoning model, with a twist Gemini Code Assist is now free for individuals! ThinkDeeper and Voice in Copilot no longer have usage restrictions OpenAI makes Deep Research available to all paid customers Apple delays biggest Siri advances past iOS 18.4 - Math is hard, but AI is even harder Spotify expands into AI-narrated audiobooks NVIDIA partners to bring free ASL training to everyone .NET 10 Preview 1 arrives with the promise of LTS and not much else Xbox Xbox Cloud Gaming gets its first update in a while, and it's a big one Microsoft delays Fable reboot to 2026 Tips and Picks Tip of the week: You can view the source code for the oldest machine-readable version of Unix App pick of the week: Adobe Photoshop for iPhone RunAs Radio this week: Exchange Server in 2025 with Michel de Rooij Brown liquor pick of the week: Glenrothes 15 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! what you love and get ad-free shows, a -only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: 1.com/windowsweekly cachefly.com/twit

On this episode, Paul Thurrott, Leo Laporte, and Richard Campbell explore the Windows KB5052086 update, the new Linux kernel drama, quantum computing, and more. Microsoft has announced the very first QPU, powered by topological qubits! Can the hosts possibly comprehend how this works? Later, Paul strongly emphasizes how AI can save s lots of time. Finally, Richard features a whisky that was recently brought to his 30th wedding anniversary! Windows Dev channel: "Important" update because of the coming change to Recall soon, so here's an update that will wipe out all your data. One guess about what that means. Plus, a nice change to the Recall pop-up Release Preview (24H2): A preview of the preview that we'll preview next time Release Preview (23H2): Basically the same features as above, keeping the two aligned Microsoft deprecates location history in Windows 11 - depreciation junction, what's your function? Microsoft Edge gets more WebUI 2-based performance improvements Clipchamp just keeps getting better Microsoft 365 Microsoft: Just kidding about that MSA and Entra ID experience change Outlook mobile is getting a new font picker, a recall email feature (finally), and a minimize email message feature. ExpressVPN (TWiT sponsor) rewrote its VPN protocol in Rust AI Microsoft announces a Quantum computing breakthrough, first quantum processor Flareup in Linux kernel management maps directly to what we see with AI - Two extremes but a clear middle ground Long story short, AI is all about saving you time - this is the "many small things, not one big thing" argument Copilot gets new voice capabilities In case you were worried, OpenAI formally rejects buyout offer OpenAI will also simplify its model offerings Google Gemini now re what you said, unlike your husband xAI launches Grok3 model but only for X subscribers Xbox Avowed launches, with many other Game titles coming through the end of February Microsoft announced a generative AI model for video games Sony just had its best-ever PS5 sales quarter Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Find your AI "ah-ha" moment App pick of the week: Notion. And iA Writer 2 for Windows is here RunAs Radio this week: Managed DevOps Pools with Eliza Tarasila Brown liquor pick of the week: Signal Hill Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! what you love and get ad-free shows, a -only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: uscloud.com zscaler.com/security 1.com/windowsweekly

Patch Tuesday has arrived and Windows 11 23H2/24H2 gets those preview updates we talked about two weeks ago: Taskbar preview improvements, Windows Studio Effects on taskbar, File Explorer improvements, Mouse improvements, Time Zone changes without privileges, OneDrive continuity (23H2 only), Windows Share improvements (23H2 only), new keyboard shortcut for Magnifier. While Windows 10 gets the new Outlook, you lucky dogs! Windows Beta (yesterday) - Beta/Dev window is open, Beta will move to 24H2 soon, this new build was for 23H2, new Paint app MIDI IS BACK BABY! MIDI Services 2.0 now in public preview Photos app OCR capabilities are back - feature was in testing but disabled in November, s 160 languages HoloLens is finally dead: Microsoft partners with tech bro to offload US Army contract AI/Dev Microsoft schedules Build 2025 for May 19-22. And then Google schedules I/O 2025 for May 20-21 Elon Musk and investors supposedly make bid for OpenAI - hilarity ensues OpenAI is working on its own AI chip because everyone else is OpenAI is working on its own AI chip because everyone else is You don't have to sign in to OpenAI to use ChatGPT Search now Google Gemini 2.0 family is now (mostly) generally available GitHub Copilot is getting agentic features this year the so-called Windows Copilot Runtime? It's finally happening. Paul noticed that the Windows App SDK 1.7 Experimental 3 release finally had WCR bits, was quietly released last week Coding hands-on: Building text rewrite and summarize requires just a few lines of code More Earnings/Corporate Qualcomm - $11.7 billion in revenues, up 17 percent It's over! Arm Holdings drops Qualcomm complaint, will not terminate license Amazon: $188 billion in revenues, up 9.5 percent - AWS was $29 billion in revenues, up 16 percent. Amazon to spend $75 billion this fiscal year on AI infrastructure build-out, similar to MSFT, that figure was $28 billion in the previous quarter Here comes Conversational Alexa - Amazon devices and services event February 26 Sonos continues its downward spiral - Before earnings, restructuring and layoffs Xbox Good news/bad news on Xbox console sales - Better than expected, honestly Candy Crush Solitaire is first new King game under Xbox - Perfect King/Microsoft mashup Tips and Picks Tip of the week: A few steps forward (and back) for the 2025 online s push Tip of the week #2: Get the Bill Gates book Source Code App pick of the week: Notion is nearly perfect RunAs Radio this week: Upgrading to Windows Server 2025 with Robert Smit Brown liquor pick of the week: Mackmyra Brukswhisky Hosts: Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Mikah Sargent or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! what you love and get ad-free shows, a -only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

FY25 Q2 earnings, reasoning models, deprecation Hosts: Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott For full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/918 Sponsors: zscaler.com/security 1.com/windowsweekly uscloud.com

Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell go over the latest batch of preview updates for January 2025, including KB5050094! The big story of the week revolves around DeepSeek and its noticeable effects on the modern AI world. Sinofsky even wrote a big piece on the latest AI assistant! Windows 11 Preview updates for Windows 11, 10 arrive ahead of February Patch Tuesday Windows 11 - Taskbar preview improvements, Windows Studio Effects in the system tray, many File Explorer fixes, more Windows 10 - New Outlook replaces Mail, Calendar, People New Dev and Beta channel builds - Overdue battery icon updates in Dev, Snap Layout experiments in Beta New Canary build today with new File Explorer home view tab Microsoft to remove Dev Home from Windows - This never made sense, so that's fine, but its most important features will live on Microsoft Edge for Windows now has a Scareware blocker in preview AI DeepSeek explodes out of the gate, sends Big Tech/AI stock reeling and opening up questions about how much money these companies are spending on AI Nadella, Altman, Nvidia all react to this change in interesting ways Steve Sinofsky - This was inevitable, disruption always comes from outside Ahead of this blockbuster development, a look at how the Microsoft/OpenAI relationship is changing - and now we need another look OpenAI announces Operator agent for ChatGPT in preview Google is bringing new Gemini features to Android and Pixel Google is also bringing NotebookLM to almost every Workspace tier, including the cheap one I (Paul) use, NotebookLM Plus to WS Standard and better Microsoft Microsoft preps smaller Surface Pro and Laptop models with Snapdragon chips for some reason Microsoft is closing its UK-based "experience center" Xbox Thanks to Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is the biggest game publisher in the world Phil Spencer: Xbox Series S a "real advantage" for coming portable gaming product Phil Spencer says hardware still "critical" to Xbox. More like "critical condition," am I right? No surprises at Xbox Developer_Direct, but a solid collection of games, including the new DOOM Tips and Picks Tip of the week: It's time to start watching Dave's Garage App pick of the week: PowerToys, now with Zoomit RunAs Radio this week: Querying for Breaches with Mark Morowcyznski Brown liquor pick of the week: Blair Athol 12 Floral & Fauna Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! what you love and get ad-free shows, a -only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsor: Melissa.com/twit

OpenAI, Stargate Project, 24H2 Preview Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell For full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/916 Sponsors: 1.com/windowsweekly uscloud.com zscaler.com/security

The first Patch Tuesday of 2025 brings temporary but sweet relief. There were no preview updates last month, so this month is just security/bug fixes. Plus, will Microsoft back down from its Windows 10 EOL line in the sand? It appears not. Finally, got New Year's resolutions? Paul's got a better idea. Maybe... Windows New Canary build with nothing in it Microsoft will not Office on Windows 10 after October EOL date Microsoft is auto-installing the new Outlook in Windows 10 too - Don't let the door hit you on the way out Parallels Desktop for Mac now s running x86 Windows VMs. Very slowly AI, Microsoft 365 New business models for AI emerge in 2025. Pay as you go vs. pay or no pay Microsoft has shifted its business model strategy over two years 15 months of Copilot in Windows: Madness Microsoft announces pay-as-you-go AI agents Google has a different (better) take with "the best of Google AI" in Workspace What to expect: Price hikes on subscription services to pay for this AI Massive reorg of Microsoft's engineering groups is all about AI - There are PM-level layoffs happening now all over Microsoft OpenAI adds tasks in beta to ChatGPT Microsoft Excel in Windows will soon dark mode. Wait, what? Hardware Surface teases a big announcement on January 30 AMD surges on incredible new x86 chips and Intel's epic fail Former Surface design lead Ralf Groene s Panos at Amazon. Why? Arm Holdings plans massive licensing price hikes. Everyone needs to settle the F down There's a 16 GB Raspberry Pi 5 now. But at this price, a low-end NUC is the better choice for most Dev .NET 9.0.1 arrives - and with it, the fix for the app-crashing WPF/Windows 11 theming bug Paul tried GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio. It is MAGIC Xbox Microsoft is clearly planning something big for gaming handhelds. Windows or Xbox? Or both? Happy New Year, Xbox fans! Microsoft to bring more Xbox exclusives to PS, Switch Xbox to host a Developer Direct event next week Microsoft introduces new Xbox repair options The Nintendo Switch 2 is leaking all over the place, and there were prototypes at CES Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Think about making micro changes each month or quarter instead of huge, sweeping changes once a year App pick of the week: Start11 v2.5 RunAs Radio this week: DevOpsDocs with Mattias Karlsson Brown liquor pick of the week: Buchanan's Deluxe 12 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Sponsor: cachefly.com/twit