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:

• 1password.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 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.

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join 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 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.

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• uscloud.com
• cachefly.com/twit