PC makers are shaking up CES with wild designs and next-gen chips, but the real story is Microsoft's bold software moves, AI's hardware hunger, and a candid debate over whether any tech company still puts users first. Come for the Windows updates, stay for the whisky warnings and robot bathroom assistants.

CES 2026 is here with the 4K hummingbird feeder of your dreams

• New PCs and more from HP consumers/commercial, HP gamers, Lenovo, others
• The first official Copilot+ PC desktops
• Snapdragon X2 Plus joins X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme
• Intel Panther Lake has meaningful CPU and graphics performance gains, but predictable reliability issues
• AMD Ryzen AI 400 series is a minor bump

Windows

• Paul was the first to report that Microsoft is refactoring it all with Rust
• A Microsoft distinguished engineer wrote about his desire to refactor all C/C++ code in the company with Rust by 2030
• Some mistook this to mean "rewriting Windows with Rust,ˮ so he had to issue a clarification. But I never wrote that.
• Heads-up: That will happen, but this is really about Azure first and the core underlying code in Microsoftʼs most important platforms
• Microsoft released hardware-accelerated BitLocker in late 2025 and never told anyone. It requires the latest PC CPUs
• Copilot app update that adds text editing actions to Copilot Vision across channels
• Dev and Beta got first previews of AI agents on the Taskbar, starting with the Researcher agent, plus underlying Agent Launchers experience
• IDC says the global memory shortage (thanks, AI!) could screw up PC and smartphone growth this year

AI

• ChatGPT now has an app store, but it has a ways to go
• Mozilla Firefox will have a "killswitchˮ for AI
• Our national nightmare will soon be over, LG will let users remove Copilot app from their smart TVs

Xbox and gaming

• First Xbox Game Pass releases of 2026 include Resident Evil Village and Star Wars Outlaws
• Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming to Hisense smart TVs and to the latest Fire TV smart TVs
• GOG goes independent, will continue DRM-free push
• "Have a blastˮ and other FPS throwbacks from the 1990s
• Valve quietly killed the LCD Steam Deck model

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Itʼs time to give Little AI a look
• App pick of the week: Bonjourr
• RunAs Radio this week: What AI can do for SysAdmins in 2026 with Cecilia Wiren
• Brown liquor pick of the week: The Singleton of Dufftown 12

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

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This isn't your usual Windows Weekly. Pour a glass and settle in as Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell ditch the headlines for whisky-soaked tech stories, behind-the-scenes Microsoft confessions, and the unexpected joys (and disasters) of vintage hardware. These are the tales you only hear when the mics are (almost) off.

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!
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We were inundated with new Windows features in 2025, but which ones actually moved the needle? Fortnite isn't just back on iPhone and Android, it's available on Windows 11 on Arm, and it works great! Plus, 2 big mobile wins for Epic Games and some thoughts on the "right" way to roll out AI features.

Windows 11

• Best Windows 11 updates of 2025, in no particular order...
• Dark mode improvements to File Explorer
• Widgets major overhaul with separate widgets and Discovery feed
• Xbox Full Screen experience - especially good on handhelds, of course, but also any PC you use for gaming with a controller
• Click to Do (Copilot+ PC only)
• External fingerprint reader support for Windows Hello ESS
  -External/USB webcams supported by Windows Studio Effects (Copilot+ PC only)
• Quick Machine Recovery is the tip of a wave of new foundational features like Admin Protection, Smart App Control (updates), and more that go beyond surface-level look and feel
• Redesigned Start menu isn't perfect but it's a nice improvement
• Copilot Vision, though this type of thing may make more sense on phones
• AI features in Paint, Photos, Notepad, and Snipping Tool
• Natural language interactions like the agent in Settings, file search, and more (mostly Copilot+ PC only, but you can do this in Copilot as well)
• Bluetooth LE support for improved audio quality in game chat, voice calls
• Gaming on Windows 11 on Arm and Snapdragon X: Major steps forward, but the same issue as always
• Looking ahead to 2026: 26H1, Agentic features that work, potential Windows 12, and AI PCs

AI

• An extensive new interview with Mustafa Suleyman confirms why this guy is special and how confusing it is that Copilot is so disrespected
• Microsoft Copilot is auto-installing on LG smart TVs and there's no way to remove it
• GPT-5.2 is OpenAI's answer to Gemini 3
• ChatGPT Images is OpenAI's answer to Nano Banana Pro
• Disney invests $1 billion OpenAI, sues Google
• Opera Neon is now generally available for $20 per month
• AI is moving quick as we all know but the bigger issue may be the incessant marketing about features like agents that don't even work now
• Microsoft is getting pushback on forced Copilot usage, price hikes
• Google is expanding its use of "experiments" outside of mainstream products with things like NotebookLM, Mixboard, CC, and much more. Maybe this is the better approach: Test separately and then integrate it into existing products
• Oddly enough, Microsoft does have a Windows AI Lab for this kind of experimentation
• Many small models vs. one big LLM in the cloud

Mobile

• Fortnite is back in the Google Play Store in the U.S. as Google plays nice
• Apple loses its contempt appeal, the end of "junk fees" (Apple Tax) is in sight

Xbox and gaming

• Xbox December Update has one big update for the mobile app and one big update for Xbox Wireless Headphones
• There's a new Xbox Developer Direct coming in January
• Half-Life 3 may really be happening, but it will be a Steam Machine launch title so it could be a while

Tips & picks

• Tip of the year: De-enshittify Windows 11
• App pick of the year: Fortnite
• RunAs Radio this week: Zero Trust in 2026 with Michele Bustamante
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Lark Symphony No. 1

These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/963

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

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