Richard Campbell is out this week! Microsoft continues to make changes to Notepad as it tests 'lightweight text formatting' in Notepad. 22H2, 23H2, and 24H2 got preview updates. And Microsoft has reportedly delayed its first-party Xbox / Windows gaming handheld.

Windows

THE GREAT NOTEPAD CONTROVERSY OF 2025

• Microsoft announced it was testing "lightweight text formatting" in Notepad.
• This is one of MANY changes its made to Notepad in recent years.
• The community has collectively lost its s#$t - most thought this was RTF support - it's not.
• Everyone is wrong. In defense of Notepad.

24H2

• Last Tuesday, 22H2/23H2 got a preview update in Week D, but 24H2 did not.
• The 24H2 update appeared later, with a ton of new features as expected - it's possible an out-of-band update requirement is responsible for the delay.
• Now we know for sure what's coming on Patch Tuesday next week.
• Windows Insider updates
  • Today, in Canary: Energy saver in Intune, re-rollout of Phone companion, more.
  • Dev and Beta (24H2): Quick machine recovery, Phone Link improvements - Plus, more just in Dev.
  • Canary: Voice access and some bug fixes.
• Microsoft makes more DMA changes to Windows 11/Edge
  • We all need these changes.
  • Apple needs to pay attention.
  • Also, hilarious: Apple copies what Microsoft did in the 1990s. Twice.
• Earnings:
  • HP
  • Dell
  • Nvidia

Microsoft 365/AI

• Microsoft announces (internally) its third major AI reorg in 15 months - Too ... slow?
• Microsoft is killing password management/autofill in the Microsoft Authenticator app (announced previously, but now a warning is showing up in the app).
  • Good, you should use a third-party password manager anyway. Also, it's really an identity manager. Also, wake up.
  • When/why to use Microsoft Authenticator.
  • And why you should also use Google Authenticator.
• June 2025 update for the new Outlook adds tons of new features.
• Research and Analyst AI agents are now GA in Microsoft 365 Copilot.
• You can experiment with short, phone videos on your phone with Bing Video Creator.
• FU, OpenAI! NYT licenses its content to Amazon.
• Samsung may drop Gemini for Perplexity.

Xbox/Gaming

• Microsoft has reportedly delayed its first-party Xbox/Windows gaming handheld.
  • Xbox continues to be in a holding pattern on hardware - Theories include an Arm revolution in waiting and Amy Hood getting serious about trying to make this business profitable.
  • Are handheld gaming PCs the next Netbook or mini-tablet ... or this is market real, sustainable, and big enough to matter?
  • SteamDeck/Linux could be a problem here - related to this, Nvidia news.
• Microsoft reaches its first-ever agreement with a game studio union.
• Semi-related: J Allard is one of about 100 former Microsoft execs at Amazon now, and we have an update.

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: You can replace OneDrive/Google Drive with a NAS.
  • My Synology NAS is better than expected as a Little Tech replacement for OneDrive and Google Drive. This changes everything
• App pick of the week: Microsoft Edge 137
  • Edge 137 has quietly emerged as the biggest release of this browser since its inception.
  • Edge 137 adds PIP and business improvements, removes Wallet Hub and some truly pointless features.
  • It adds Windows 11 App action support to PWAs.
  • It brings Game Assist for Game Bar to everyone.
• Photoshop for Android is here and it's free

Pa

These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/935

Hosts: Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott

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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 admin controls for Taskbar
• Windows Insider Program
  • Canary - Microsoft adds support 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
  • 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

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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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 support 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 users
• 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

• Administrator 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 Pass
• 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 Pass 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

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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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 support 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 Support 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 support program
• Will support Microsoft 365 on Windows 10 through October 2028
• Those time frames are identical
• So what about those Surface PCs that can't upgrade to Windows 11? Microsoft has an answer (for all unsupported 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:

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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 users

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 Pass this month
• Gears of War Remastered coming to Xbox, PS5, PC, Game Pass in August
• Minecraft drops VR/MR support
• 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 passwordless
• 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

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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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 support.

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 accounts, 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 support 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 support
• DuckDuckGo's Duck.ai now supports 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 Pass

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

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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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 support
• 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 accounts to be marked as leaked for 50,000 partner accounts

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 Premium 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 Pass
• 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

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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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/logout 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, join Game Pass, and redeem perks. Did Microsoft get a concession from Apple/Google??
• COD: Modern Warfare II (OG) and more are coming to Game Pass 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

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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