Windows Weekly (Audio)

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Windows Weekly (Audio) episodes

March 25WW 976: Full Thurrottle - Microsoft's Plan To Save Windows in 2026
In 2015, Satya Nadella said that he wanted users to love Windows. But Microsoft has only enshittified Windows more aggressively since then. Paul wrote a book. And now Microsoft says it's changed, baby, and it's serious this time. Here's what was said ... and what was not said.
A Timeline
Early signs of positive change: Rust in the Windows kernel, numerous new security features in Windows 11 - "two sides" of Windows, the engineering side and the "let's push AI at all costs/UX" side - more recently, Baseline Security Mode and User Transparency and Consent announcement

Last September, Pavan Davuluri took over Windows and reorganized the business immediately, bringing Server/Core back in-house

In December, Paul saw the first signs of positive changes in OneDrive, while not perfect, a major step back from the enshittification there. It took a few months to understand exactly what changed.

In January, there are over one billion Windows 11 users. Davuluri first mentions a push for quality in 2026 - "pain points"

In February, Nadella announced leadership changes that included people directly in charge of security and engineering quality

Now, Microsoft has announced that it will address (some of) the complaints about Windows 11, and this includes performance and reliability improvements across the board
Microsoft said it will
Let you move the Taskbar to other screen edges, finally

Improve File Explorer performance

Make changes to how users to skip Windows Updates (vaguely)

Make improvements to Widgets (but what about the quality problem?)

Remove unnecessary Copilot entry points

Make the Windows Insider Program more transparent

More relevant recommendations in Start - ??

Reduce resource usage across the board, give more resources to what you're doing (good for gaming, especially)

Reduce interaction latency - WInUI3

Reduce search latency throughout - also context menus and navigation (which is WinUI3, I guess)

Make improvements to Windows Subsystem for Linux

OS, drive, and in-box app reliability improvements

Windows Hello improvements - Wonders if this is tied to the complaint about speed here
What Microsoft didn't discuss
Of the several items in the Windows 11 Enshittification Checklist, only one was addressed by Davuluri's post, Windows Update chaos, and then only partially. Not mentioned: Forced telemetry, bundled crapware, forced Microsoft account sign-ins, forced Microsoft Edge usage and configuration harassment, hardware requirements (less relevant today), OneDrive behaviors (partially addressed already).

Recall is rare in that it's opt-in, but most of the AI and unwanted features are opt-out or worse

Controlled Feature Releases are not controlled, but they do suck

Microsoft has monthly Security Updates that include new features. Security and Feature updates should be separate and have different pausing rules

Microsoft is not removing Copilot from Windows, nor is it doing less AI; it is just removing Copilot icons from most places and trying to be more thoughtful about how it deploys AI in Windows 11

The Windows Insider Program makes 0 sense right now, and this was only partially addressed; it's not clear what's changing yet

Davuluri says that WinUI3 UIs are the solution to many performance problems, but just using an old

Mor

These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/976

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell
2 hr 17 min
March 18WW 975: A Bubble of Knowledge - Microsoft Reorgs, OpenAI Drama, & Xbox's Next Move
There's an ongoing narrative that Windows is worse than ever today and people are leaving in droves. Paul does not see that, and will simply point to Windows 8 and remind folks that it can be (and was) worse. Also, PowerToys 0.98 adds a major new feature to Command Palette, big changes to Keyboard Manager and CursorWrap, and about 100 other updates. This is a big one. Plus, Mozilla Firefox is staging a comeback and may be worth another look.
Windows
Rajesh Jha is retiring and Microsoft is reorging its Experiences + Devices team

Release Preview: A peek at next week's Week D update (and April's Patch Tuesday) shows we're getting improvements to Narrator, Settings, Smart App Control, Pen settings, Display, File Explorer, and the Windows Recovery Environment (WRE). The trend continues!

New Canary, Dev, and Beta builds - Nothing new in Canary. Dev/Beta: Drag Tray is being renamed to Drop Tray, you can change the user folder name during Setup, Restore points are getting a modern update finally

Intel goes nuts with new "Arrow Lake refresh" processors; these are not Copilot+ PC capable and it's unclear what the Panther Lake comparison looks like

IDC now expects 11.3 percent decline in PC market in 2026, 7.6 percent decline for tablets
AI
Microsoft may sue OpenAI for contract breach - the best Microsoft divorce since IBM

Major reorg in Microsoft's AI businesses

Former Snap exec in charge of consolidated Copilot offerings across consumer and commercial

Mustafa Suleyman to focus on Microsoft's foundational models

There has been a lot of retiring and a lot of outside hires for top-level executive positions in Microsoft over the past year or more. Curious.

Rumors vs. reality in Microsoft scaling back AI ambitions in Windows

Rumor: Microsoft is backtracking on some Copilot features

Reality: Microsoft is not backtracking on its AI ambitions, it's just going to try to do a better job with branding and positioning

Microsoft launches Copilot Health in the U.S.

Google Personal Intelligence ships in the U.S.

OpenAI releases GPT-5.4 mini and nano models

GPT-5 mini is available as a reasoning model on Duck.ai
Xbox and gaming
Rumor vs. reality in Xbox strategy

Rumor: Microsoft removed "This is an Xbox" messaging from website so it must be focusing on consoles again

Reality: Literally nothing has changed

Xbox Insiders is testing per-game Quick Resume toggle

Also more groups on Home, custom colors, profile badges in guide

Big half month for Game Pass, with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, more coming

Starfield is coming to PS5 on April 7

NVIDIA launches DLSS 5, changes existing games, people are freaking out
Tips and picks
Tip of the week: The grass is always greener

App pick of the week: PowerToys 0.98

RunAs Radio this week: Sustainable AI with Darshna Shah

Brown liquor pick of the week: Teeling Small Batch Whiskey

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download 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.

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2 hr 18 min
March 11WW 974: DIY Crocs - Project Helix Details From GDC 2026
From bug-busting AI that's transforming Firefox to personal coding breakthroughs, the team breaks down how practical applications are cutting through skepticism and reshaping developer workflows. Plus, hear why lighter Patch Tuesdays are refreshing from time to time!
Windows 11
Patch Tuesday's familiar list of updates: Network speed test, Camera tilt and pan controls, sysmon, RSAT improvements, Quick Machine Recovery improvements, WEBP support for desktop wallpaper, Emoji 16.0, etc.

It's been a light year so far for Patch Tuesday features - that's a good thing

New builds for Canary, Dev, and Beta late last week. Canary is nothing, Dev/Beta get Administrator Protection, Drag Tray refinements, File Explorer improvements, and fixes

Android 16 QPR3 brings Desktop Mode to Android devices - and a hands-on with Pixel phones and tablets shows the way forward for Android-based laptops later this year

Intel has new gaming processors for creators and gamers and they look excellent and are inexpensive
AI and dev
Copilot Cowork is literally Claude Cowork in Microsoft 365 - "Wave 3" for Microsoft 365 Copilot begins with a lot of agentic features, in private preview at first

Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive get big Gemini updates for consumers and Workspace customers

Mozilla partners with Anthropic to use AI to find bugs, and it's paying off nicely

Visual Studio Code moves to a weekly update schedule

The .NET 11 Preview 2 is here
Xbox and gaming
Microsoft starts talking up next Xbox console! It's called Project Helix and, yes, it will run Windows games

New Xbox Mode is on the way

Project Helix dev kits to game makers in 2027

Satya Nadella explains why he/Microsoft are "long" on gaming

Gaming is a core identity for Microsoft alongside platforms, developers, and knowledge workers
Tips and picks
Tip of the week: Nostalgia with a purpose

App pick of the week: Stardock Clairvoyance

RunAs Radio this week: SQL Server in 2026 with Bob Ward

Brown liquor pick of the week: Canadian Centennial Rye Whisky

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download 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.

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2 hr 47 min
March 04WW 973: Bob's Rumor Store - ASUS & Dell Unveil Windows 365 Cloud PC Devices
Can Microsoft's push for cloud PCs and AI-powered agents redefine where and how we work? If you keep to the defaults, Windows 11 is secure. Copilot+ PC is even more secure. But you can take additional steps to secure it either way, and you should. Plus, Paul's been trying to play different types of games, and Resident Evil Requiem is better (in his opinion) than Silent Hill f and Silent Hill 2 remake... if you want a horror game. Also, there's a cheaper new Audible plan thanks to Spotify!
Windows 11
Shenanigans? If you use a third-party AI client in Edge Canary... you will not be amused.

Bitwarden (TWiT sponsor) is (possibly the 1st?) third-party password manager to support passkey sign-ins on Windows 11

New Canary, Dev, and Beta builds last Friday- Canary is more of the same, Dev/Beta get shared audio improvements, narrator improvements, new IT policies

ASUS and Dell will soon sell Windows 365 Cloud PCs

Google is moving Chrome to a two-week dev schedule. Should we assume Microsoft will follow suit with Edge?

Dell is up 39 percent, but because of AI servers not PCs

NVIDIA revenues up 73 percent to $68.1 billion
AI/dev
OpenAI closes $110 billion funding round as the AI circle jerk continues

Microsoft brings Copilot Tasks to consumer Copilot

Google introduces AppFunctions for Android, it's way to make mobile apps work like MCP (be semantic), similar to what Microsoft is doing in Windows

Windows App Development CLI updated to 0.02 with Store CLI integration and .NET project support

Build 2026 is in San Francisco, as expected, but in June - overlap with WWDC?
Xbox and gaming
Here come the first Game Pass titles of March

Microsoft highlights some indie games to consider

Xbox ROG Ally gets AI-based game recaps

Legion Go Fold is the star of the new PCs at MWC

Sony might be backtracking on its PC games plans

Developing: Epic/Google settlement was approved
Tips & picks
App pick of the week: Resident Evil Requiem

Tip of the week: Secure your Windows 11 PC

RunAs Radio this week: Hiring in 2026 with Suzi Edwards-Alexander

Brown liquor pick of the week: St. Augustine Florida Straight Bourbon

Hosts: Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Mikah Sargent

Download 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.

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1 hr 53 min
February 25WW 972: I'm A Tolkien Scholar - Phil Spencer & Sarah Bond Depart Xbox
Just last week, we asked about Phil Spencer and why he's been so quiet lately. Now we know why! Also, OneDrive for the Mac is finally going to look like it belongs on the Mac. And Google Chrome finally picks up a split view like the rest of the planet, plus a few other new features.
PHIL SPENCER OUT AT XBOX
Phil Spencer has retired from Microsoft and his heir-apparent, Sarah Bond, left Microsoft as well

Report details the Xbox reorg

Ex-Xbox executive issues an old guy shouting at sky assessment

New Microsoft Gaming CEO discusses "return to Xbox"

Hot-take: This person seems unqualified to run Xbox/MS Gaming, but let's give her a chance

Alternative hot-take: She is literally here to wind down this business, which makes no sense... unless there's a spin-off
Windows
WSJ report sheds some light, and adds a lot of confusion, to Nvidia's Windows PC plans

Week D arrived on time this month

Preview of March Patch Tuesday updates

Network speed test, pan and tilt in Camera settings, sysmon, RSAT improvements, Quick Machine Recovery improvements, WEBP background image support, Emoji 16.0

And you thought the Canary channel was weird already

New builds for Canary, Dev, and Beta. Canary gets features we already saw elsewhere, Dev and Beta get context menu, settings, and Taskbar improvements

Paul has published (an incomplete version of) De-Enshittify Windows 11

De-enshittifying Copilot and AI is doable but not yet automated

What about the alternatives?

Next step: Security and Apps chapters

HP revenues up 6.9 percent to $14.4 billion but RAM warning is more dire than expected

Apple to add multitouch to MacBook Pro lineup in late 2026. Oh the irony
AI
Xbox February update brings 1440p streaming to Xbox consoles, updates for Xbox ROG Ally, more

Xbox app is delivering post-game recaps on Windows 11 for Insiders

EA had the most game downloads on PC and console in 2025, thanks to having the three most popular AAA games of the year (BF6, EA Sports FC 25, and EA Sports FC 26). Microsoft was number two, followed by Take-Two, Ubisoft, and Sony. Fortnite is somehow still the biggest game overall on console, and Counter-Strike 2 (!!!!) is the biggest on PC. 20 million Fortnite players on PS, 15 million on Xbox
Tips and picks
Tip of the week: OneDrive for the Mac

App pick of the week: Google Chrome

RunAs Radio this week: SaaS on Multiple Clouds with Steve Buchanan

Brown liquor pick of the week: Sons of Vancouver Wheated Rye Whisky

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download 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.

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!

Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit
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2 hr 28 min
February 18WW 971: Texas English - Where Does Xbox Go Next?
Microsoft might finally give power users what they've been demanding: the ability to move the Windows 11 taskbar wherever they want. Plus, 3 major new chapters in Paul's next book, and a strange pick that solves his big issue with Windows Spotlight.
Windows 11
Potentially good news for the 13 people who want to move the Taskbar to a different screen side

Beta (but not Dev) with one new "feature"

Release Preview for 24H2/25H2 with emoji 16.0, QMR improvements, network speed test, pan and tilt controls for compatible cameras, widgets improvements, more

Lenovo revenues up 18% to $22.2 billion
AI/Dev
Google announces 30-second audio generation

Google sets a date for I/O 2026, but where in the Carmen Diego is Build 2026?

Android 17 Beta is here with an even shorter runway

With '26.3 out, Apple releases '26.4 Beta 1s
Xbox and gaming
Phil Spencer is always in the spotlight, but he's been on the down-low for months

Some hints for the future coming GDC 2026

Kingdom Come Deliverance II, Witcher 3, more coming to Xbox Game Pass

Avowed comes to the PlayStation 5 along with the Anniversary Update

Microsoft is retiring user-created Xbox social clubs

NVIDIA GeForce Now comes to Amazon Fire TV 4K Sticks
Tips & picks
Tip of the week: Major progress on De-Enshittify Windows 11, the book

App pick of the week: Bing Wallpaper

RunAs Radio this week: Hacking using AI with Erica Burgess

Brown liquor pick of the week: Lot 40 100% Pot Still Rye

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download 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.

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!

Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit
2 hr 4 min
February 11WW 970: Token Kill! - What Version 26H1's Scoped Release Implies
After years of ignoring and maligning Windows, Microsoft has finally woken up and is making some happy noises. Last week, we discussed how Microsoft plans to improve the quality of Windows and that there are already many signs of that work in various security features and new OneDrive Folder Backup changes - plus those two new direct reports to Nadella. Then, Microsoft announced its Windows Baseline Security Mode and User Transparency and Consent initiatives with questions about the timing. And now, Microsoft just explained Windows 11 version 26H1, and it's not like 24H2 at all despite being tied to Snapdragon X2 silicon.
Something happened ... and that something is tied to 26H1
26H1: Only for Snapdragon X2, a "scoped release," based on a "different core" from 24H2 and 25H2

You cannot upgrade 24H2 or 25H2 to 26H1

You cannot upgrade 26H1 to 26H2 (!) - instead, those on 26H1 "will have a path to update in a future Windows release." - Is that future Windows release Windows 12? Probably

24H2, 25H2, and 26H1 will all have the same user-facing features, this has been the case with all support Windows (11) versions for 2+ years

(Remember, this is not what happened with 24H2. Shipped early on Snapdragon X1, but was made available to all Windows 11 PCs later that year)

So why is this happening now? Fortune 500/corporate customer pushback on AI is one guess

This is GOOD news, however it all unfolds
More Windows 11
Yesterday was Patch Tuesday, so get to work. Updates this month include: Agent in Settings (Copilot+ PCs only) improvements. Settings improvements, cross-device Resume improvements, Windows MIDI Services improvements, Narrator improvements, Smart App Control improvements, Windows Hello New ESS improvements, and File Explorer improvements

Somewhat related to the quality/security push noted above, Microsoft is rolling out new Secure Boot certificates this year for older (pre-2024/25) PCs

Microsoft announces a Store CLI that does (almost) nothing new compared to winget

New Dev and Beta builds with minor changes: Emoji 16.0, camera improvements, various fixes
More earnings
Amazon hits $213.4 billion in revenues, will spend $200 billion CAPEX/AI infrastructure this fiscal year, more than Google ($175/$185 billion) or Microsoft (estimated $150+ billion)

Qualcomm $12.25 billion in revenues, up 5 percent

Alphabet/Google - Up 18 percent (!) to $113.8 billion - 750 million MAUs on Gemini, 74 percent of revenues come from advertising

Spotify - somehow has over 750 million MAUs now
AI and dev
OpenAI and Anthropic release dueling agentic AI coding models that do more than agentic AI coding within minutes of each other

Ads appear in ChatGPT Free and Go as threatened

Duck.ai adds private, anonymous real-time AI voice chat

NET 11 Preview 1 arrives, but there's nothing major here
Xbox & games
Microsoft announces the 2025 Xbox Excellence Awards

Celebrate 35 years of Id Software - Castle Wolfenstein 3D was a wake-up call for PC gaming, but DOOM was a miracle, and Quake was a real WTF moment

Sony sold 8 million PlayStation 5s (down 16 percent YOY) in the holiday quarter, 92 million (!) overall

Valve predictably delays the vaporware Steam Machine

Epic Games is having a winter sale - for example, Silent Hill 2, GTA V Enhanced are 50 percentR

These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/970

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell
Sponsors:
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2 hr 34 min
February 04WW 969: The Hidden Sweatshop - Windows 11 Reaches 1 Billion Users!
Microsoft is burning through billions on AI, but Wall Street is finally demanding to see where the payoff is. The earnings announcement triggered a $357 billion valuation wipe-out, the largest in Microsoft's history and the second-largest in history overall (Nvidia managed to lose $593 billion in value in the wake of DeepSeek in early 2025).
Windows
Windows 11 has over one billion users - and, surprise, it got their faster than Windows 10 without any of the shenanigans

Microsoft to address the quality issues in Windows 11 in 2026

There is already evidence that Microsoft is trying to make Windows 11 suck less: Recent OneDrive changes that address a key ensh*ttification, and let's not forget all those security advances

What did Microsoft really promise? Not much

Microsoft has new EVPs for Security and Quality

Microsoft belatedly delivered the January Week D update last Thursday, a preview of this month's Patch Tuesday

Dev and Beta builds both deliver Mark Russinovich's sysmon tool
Microsoft earnings deep dive
Microsoft reported a net income of $38.5 billion on revenues of $81.3 billion in the quarter ending December 31. Those figures represent gains of 60 percent and 17 percent, respectively, year-over-year

Earnings analysis: All eyes are on AI and no one is happy

Microsoft spent $37.5 billion on AI infrastructure (capex) in the quarter, up 66 percent YOY, and it's on track to spend $150+ billion in the fiscal year

Every single question was about this and how it will ever recoup the costs

There are now 15 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats out of 450+ million Microsoft 365 seats

OpenAI is Microsoft's biggest Azure customer, but it's unclear if there is any real money there because of accounting tricks

Windows, Edge, and Bing all "gained share," PC maker revenues were up just 1 percent, the Windows 10 upgrade cycle was mostly a bust (it's likely that most of it was tied to RAM pricing fears, too)

Xbox fell off a cliff with content and services revenues down 5 percent in a holiday quarter somehow and Xbox hardware revenue declined an astonishing 32 percent YOY

Standalone Office 2025 suite was a surprise hit, Hood is curious if that continues

Microsoft 365 "cost of business" up 10 percent YOY because of AI costs

AMD revenues up 34 percent to $10.3 billion

Apple delivers record revenues of $143.8 billion; iPhone made more revenues by itself than all of Microsoft
AI
Microsoft is going to basically make an app store for content makers who wish to be paid for use by AI

Anthropic advertises that Claude will be advertising-free, unlike ChatGPT

The next Firefox will include the promised AI kill switch and Vivaldi "extends the middle fingerˮ to AI
Xbox and games
AMD reveals next Xbox console in 2027

We're getting a solid collection of Xbox Game Pass titles for the beginning of February

Battlefield 6 was the best-selling shooter of 2025 and EA made $1.9 billion in Q4

Epic Games has big plans for its PC launcher/store

Nintendo has now sold 17 million Switch 2s as OG Switch hits 155 million units
Tips and picks
Tip of the week: Make OneDrive Folder Backup work for you

App pick of the week: Bitwarden (TWiT sponsor)

RunAs Radio this week: Getting Started using Purview with Erica Toelle

Brown liquor pick of the week: Glendronach Ode to

These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/969

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell
Sponsor:
zscaler.com/security
2 hr 29 min
January 28WW 968: Uncharted Territory - Big Changes in the Insider Program
Microsoft's Patch Tuesday blunder triggers emergency fixes, surprise layoffs ripple through Amazon, and the crew debates whether rapid AI advances spell the end of traditional apps. Also, password managers do a lot more than manage passwords, so there's one thing everyone needs to get right.
Windows 11
Dev splits from Beta, tests what will surely be 26H1 - After last week's show, Microsoft did issue that same Beta build in the Dev channel for some reason

Dev and Beta get same fixes in different builds, but no new features

24H2 and 25H2 Release Preview update(s) are a peek at the next Patch Tuesday, lots of changes

January Patch Tuesday update was so terrible it required two emergency fixes, the second of which went out late Sunday
Earnings/industry
Intel falls flat in Q4, full year 2025 despite U.S. "investment"

Amazon lays off 16,000 employees

Microsoft, Apple, earnings this week, Alphabet, Amazon are next week
AI
Microsoft announces Maia 200 AI datacenter processor

Like Baldric in Black Adder, Apple has a cunning plan for an AI Siri

With AI costs soaring, cheaper new AI plans appear somehow

OpenAI was last week with big expansion of ChatGPT Go

Google does the same this week with AI Plus plan

OpenAI, Anthropic (this week), others are adding "apps" to their chatbots

Microsoft is exposing app features as AI Actions in Windows 11

Paul opined that this semantic/programmatic capability was the end of apps

But we can now essentially vibe-code our own custom apps - this is vaguely reminiscent of the home computer/DIY era, but without the technical knowledge requirements

The age of native apps is over, at least on desktop. Will mobile fall next?
Dev
Microsoft introduces the Windows App Development (winapp) CLI. For some reason
Xbox and gaming
Microsoft refreshes the Xbox Cloud Gaming web experience — bigger changes coming?

Fable is coming to Xbox, PC, PS5 in late 2026
Tips and picks
Tip of the week: Choose a single password manager, make your life easier

App pick of the week: Proton Pass

RunAs Radio this week: Business Process Automation in 2026 with Ian Cooper

Brown liquor pick of the week: Tullibardine 18

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download 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.

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!

Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit
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2 hr 26 min
January 21WW 967: 2nd-Generation Bonobos - Windows 11 Gets Emergency OOB Update!
This week, the hosts go deep on out-of-band updates, unwanted "innovations," and the uneasy cost of tech's latest gold rush. Plus, securing a Microsoft account is not as hard as some think, and neither are passkeys once you get past the jargon. And for developers, AI Dev Gallery offers a fascinating glimpse at what you can do for free with AI used against a CPU, GPU, or NPU.
Windows 11
Microsoft issues an emergency fix for a borked Windows Update. Right. A fix for a fix.

Hell freezes over, if only slightly: Microsoft quietly made some positive changes to forced OneDrive Folder Backup. Donʼt worry, itʼs still forced (and appears to be opt-in, but isnʼt). But you can back out more elegantly. So itʼs opt-out, not opt-in, but a step forward. Plus, a new behavior

Windows 11 on Arm PCs can now download games from the Xbox app (previously only through the Insider program)

Over 85 percent of Xbox games on PC work in WOA now

Prism emulator now supports AVX and AVX2 and Epic Anti-Cheat, and there is a new Windows Performance Fit feature offering guidance on which titles should play well.

Beta: New 25H2 build with account dialog modernization, Click to Do and desktop background improvements. Not for Dev, suggesting itʼs about to move to 26H1

Notepad and Paint get more features yet again. Notably, these updates are for Dev and Canary only, suggesting these might be 26Hx features (then again, versions don't matter, right?)
AI
Just say no: To AI, to Copilot, and to Satya Nadella

Our national nightmare is over: You can now (easily) hide Copilot in Microsoft Edge

ChatGPT Go is now available worldwide, ads are on the way because of course

Wikipedia partners with Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, more on AI
Xbox & gaming
January Xbox Update brings Game Sync Indicator, more

Solid second half of January for Xbox Game Pass

Microsoft will likely introduce a free, ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming tier because of course
Tips & picks
Tip of the week: Secure your Microsoft account

App pick of the week: AI Dev Gallery

RunAs Radio this week: Ideation to Implementation with Amber Vandenburg

Liquor pick of the week: Estancia Raicilla

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download 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.

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!

Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit
2 hr 41 min

About Windows Weekly (Audio)

From the publisher's feed

Windows Weekly is about more than Windows. Veteran Microsoft insiders Paul Thurrott and Richard Campbell join Leo for a deep dive into the most valuable company in the world. From consumer to enterprise, AI to Xbox, Windows Weekly is the only Microsoft podcast you'll ever need.

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