It's not just Recall: Security vulnerabilities that require you to sign into an account on your PC are not necessarily vulnerabilities. Also, Windows 11 gets its first big feature updates in this week's Patch Tuesday releases. Snapseed 4.0 comes to Android/iOS, and Claude FM is great for relaxing or getting coding/work done. Plus, the Helium browser has emerged as a favorite with 2 notable caveats: No online settings sync and no mobile client.

Windows

• 25H2/24H2: Xbox Mode, Agents on the Taskbar, more
• 26H1: Smart App Control improvements, other things we saw previously (26H1 is like the stable version of Canary, it seems)
• Microsoft used a new Mythos-like model called MDASH to find vulnerabilities this month, so expect the numbers of fixed bugs to jump in coming months
• A low-latency profile for Windows will let it optimize for app/UI launch performance just like mobile platforms already do
• New builds across most channels with two major changes: Touchpad improvements in Experimental and free upgrade path to Pro for education users in Experimental Beta.

A new threat emerges

• Google announces Googlebook, an Android-based laptop platform with Google Intelligence
• Some morning-after thoughts, including Microsoft promising AI and that Copilot will be the new Start, while Google delivers AI and is remaking the laptop as an intelligent device

AI

• Microsoft Edge gets big AI and productivity updates on desktop and mobile
• An Anthropic engineer argues that AI should use HTML for output, not Markdown. He's right.
• About that 4 GB Gemini Nano model that Chrome secretly downloads
• OpenAI brings Codex to Google Chrome

Security

• A Bitlocker concern emerges
• Microsoft Edge loads all saved passwords into plain text when it launches, Microsoft says this is as intended
• Mozilla patched 423 vulnerabilities in Firefox during April, most courtesy of Anthropic Mythos
• 465 million Amazon customers have enrolled in passkeys

Xbox & gaming

• Xbox Insider Program: New build for console with previously announced new boot animation, tiered Gamerscore badges, new filters in Game Library
• Forza Horizon 6 leaks on Steam, those who play it early will be banned until the sun swallows the earth
• Discord Nitro now has an Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition perk
• Mojang will host a special MINECRAFT LIVE event on May 30
• Sony sold just 1.5 million PS5s in most recent quarter, its lowest number yet
• Nintendo sold just 2.49 million Switch 2s in quarter, lowers annual estimates
• Supreme Court gives Apple the 🖕 so Epic v. Apple will head to remedy phase

Tips & picks

• Tip of the week: A web browser is the 1st step for anyone looking to escape Big Tech
• App pick of the week: Helium
• RunAs Radio this week: Production LLMs with Vaishnavi Gudur
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Gouden Carolus Port Oak

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

Sponsors:

• canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT
• trustedtech.team/windowsweekly365
• threatlocker.com/twit

This episode dives into early MS-DOS/PC-DOS source code, Snapdragon X2 gaming, and the "We are Xbox" messaging. Plus, Paul details 2 big changes in the Windows Insider Program. The latest PowerToys adds 2 useful new utilities and many improvements. And a TWiT listener asked about buying Windows 11 on Arm to virtualize it on a Mac. You're not going to believe what happened next.

Windows

• Microsoft announces big changes to Windows Update
• Microsoft announces Windows Insider Program changes, with Experimental channel
• Hands-on with both predictably shows some nice improvements
• Hands-on with Snapdragon X2 gaming - more wins, but still some losses
• Microsoft open sources some of the earliest MS-DOS source code and related materials
• Intel loses $3.7 billion and Wall Street could not be happier. WTF is happening - Paul has a theory and its called collusion

AI

• Microsoft and OpenAI revise partnership again and wait for it...
• OpenAI immediately signs on with AWS
• Microsoft 365 Copilot subscribers get Word, Excel, and PowerPoint agentic AI features
• Copilot in Outlook can manage your inbox and calendar, but seriously stop using Outloook
• GitHub Copilot's switch to usage-based billing starts June 1
• OpenAI is reportedly working on a phone because of course it is
• Adobe Firefly AI Assistant is now available in preview
• And then Anthropic goes deeper into the creator market

Xbox and gaming

• Microsoft Gaming is being (re)rebranded to Xbox!
• New Xbox leadership can't stop explaining its plans and it's glorious
• Microsoft still plans a mobile game store, waiting on Apple to stop being so f'ing terrible
• Valve's Steam Controller will cost $99 and launches next week

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Windows licenses, $, and you
• App pick of the week: PowerToys 0.99
• RunAs Radio this week: M365 Copilot vs Claude Cowork with Sharon Weaver
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Reifel 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

Sponsors:

• webroot.com/twit
• zscaler.com/security

AI is democratizing the making of things, from bespoke/custom apps to websites, designs of all kinds, and everything else you might imagine. It's a new world, and it's time to create. Plus, Helium is a new Chromium-based web browser that's completely open source, lightweight, secure, and private. There's a native version for Windows 11 on Arm, too. Also, Firefox 150 arrives with over 270 security fixes!

Windows 11

• Reports of a Recall security vulnerability are, once again, bogus, Microsoft says
• New builds on all channels, still on the old system
• Xbox Mode is now available in all channels
• Release Preview shows us the May Patch Tuesday updates: Xbox Mode, File Explorer improvements, Haptic improvements, Drop Tray renaming, Agents on the Taskbar
• Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x - Snapdragon X2 Elite, 14-inch display impressions
• Lenovo IdeaPad 5x - Snapdragon X2 Plus, 15.3-inch display impressions

Microsoft 365, Surface, more

• OneDrive now supports Markdown natively
• New Surface PCs with Intel chips coming soon
• Microsoft is making changes to its Rewards program

AI

• GitHub Copilot moves to token-based billing in a sign of the true cost of AI
• Claude Design democratizes visual design on the heels of Claude Opus 4.7
• OpenAI Codex moves into productivity
• OpenAI releases ChatGPT Images 2.0
• Chrome AI Mode gets a big update
• Mozilla announces Thunderbolt, sovereign AI for businesses
• Google brings vibe coding to Android apps with Android CLI

Xbox and gaming

• Microsoft drops Xbox Game Pass prices (!), but also drops Call of Duty from Day One
• Plus, Xbox teases a Game Pass Discord perk
• More Game Pass titles for April: Kiln, Vampire Crawlers, more
• Xbox April Update is here with that Quick Resume feature we all want
• There's an ID@Xbox event on April 23 to highlight indie games
• Xbox is selling Forza Horizon 6 limited edition controller and headsets
• Starfield is coming to the Nintendo Switch 2
• A Call of Duty movie will finally arrive in 2028
• Try out the Modern Warfare remake on Game Pass, it's a reminder of COD's gritty past
• PS5 Digital is down to its $399 launch price temporarily

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Just make it
• App pick of the week: Helium
• RunAs Radio this week: The Life and Death of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit with Michael Niehaus
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Ned Australian 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

Sponsors:

• webroot.com/twit
• threatlocker.com/twit

With Microsoft finally doing right by Windows 11 and the Windows Insider Program, it's time to start testing and provide some feedback. And then we'll see if we can really trust these people. Also, Stardock's Connection Explorer 1.0 is here! And if you want one of macOS's dumbest features on Windows 11, you can get it now.

Windows

• Yesterday was Patch Tuesday - Another month in paradise
• 26H1 - Eh, 24H2/25H2 - Narrator, File Explorer, display, Pen settings, WRE, Remote Desktop improvements
• Microsoft reveals how it will simplify the Windows Insider Program
• Two top-level channels, but really three
• A way to enable all features in new builds, finally, and easy channel switching. But there are complexities, of course
• New builds for Canary, Beta, and Dev - Two for Canary, but nothing new, Beta and Dev get Storage, networking, Windows Security, and Feedback Hub improvements
• The first Snapdragon X2-based PC is out, and Paul has that waiting in PA, and two more PCs are coming to Mexico
• PC sales were somehow up 2.5 percent in Q1, but the rest of 2026 will be a bloodbath
• Also, smartphone sales are doing even worse
• NVIDIA reportedly wants to buy Dell or HP ahead of a big PC chipset push. Interesting

Surface/Microsoft 365

• Microsoft is forced to hike Surface prices dramatically
• Microsoft reportedly kills Surface Hub
• Microsoft College Offer: 12 months of Microsoft 365 Premium, 12 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and a custom Xbox controller when students in the U.S. purchase a PC

AI/Dev

• Microsoft AI releases a faster and more efficient image model
• Amazon CEO tries to explain the AI spending
• Google app for Windows rolls out worldwide, but the Mac gets a Gemini app
• Claude for Microsoft Word arrives in Beta
• Claude for Desktop gets a major redesign for multiple AI agents
• Microsoft's reported plans to charge for AI agents
• .NET 11 Preview 3 arrives right on schedule, but there's nothing to see here
• Build session catalog is up - joking, but the new Windows native app strategy should just be vibe coding
• Google I/O registration is open, and you are never going to believe what the main topics will be - number five will shock you

Xbox & gaming

• New Xbox CEO says Game Pass is too expensive, also that the sky is blue
• Xbox will show off the next Metro game soon
• Starfield for PS5 is getting a fix
• Amazon Luna is stripping down to the basics e.g. "pulling a Stadia"

Tips & picks

• Tip of the week: It's time to get involved
• App pick of the week: Stardock Connection Explorer
• RunAs Radio this week: Internal Corporate Communications in 2026 with Emily Mancini
• Brown liquor pick of the week: ScapeGrace Vanguard

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

Sponsors:

• cyberhoot.com/windows
• threatlocker.com/twit

Julia Liuson is leaving Microsoft. Liuson joined Microsoft in 1992, the same year as CEO Satya Nadella (she worked on Access at first). She helped build the first version of Visual Studio and was the first female corporate vice president at Microsoft. Liuson has been president of Microsoft's Developer Division since 2021. Also, curious about life on the other side of the fence? Paul has a tip for finding games that are optimized for Linux. Plus, Chrome joins the 21st century with vertical tabs and a real reading view. Just be sure to install those anti-tracking extensions.

Windows

• Microsoft promises more native apps for Windows 11, but... which apps? New apps? Replacements for existing apps?
• Thanks for making us revisit the web app vs. native app thing yet again, Microsoft
• Windows 11 version 25H2 is now being pushed to all compatible PCs
• Compatibility milestone, not a big deal because 24H2/25H2 features are identical, same underlying codebase - but some will complain that Microsoft is "forcing" 25H2 on them
• Secure Boot certificate notifications are now available so you can see where your PC is at
• Another month, another emergency Windows Update patch
• New Dev/Beta builds add Xbox Mode, new haptic effects, etc., plus a new Canary build with features we've seen before
• Microsoft is taking the Insider Program on the road
• Component shortages trigger another Raspberry Pi price hike, but also a promise for the future
• The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition processor will be available from leading retailers starting Apr. 22 with a retail price of $899

AI

• Microsoft's terms of service for Copilot say it's for entertainment purposes only. Yes, really.
• Microsoft AI releases new foundational models for transcription, voice, and images
• Word on iPhone gets Copilot co-create capabilities - used to be AI Mode, you need a Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription
• Anthropic has hired away a key AI executive from Microsoft, and what he has to say about the opportunity is interesting
• Anthropic brings Computer Use to Windows
• Google: Seriously, we are not training AI with your Gmail
• Google AI Pro plans now offer 5 TB of cloud storage, yikes

Xbox & gaming

• Xbox is refreshing the look of achievements on the console
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, more coming to Game Pass this month
• Was this the best COD ever? In search of greatness
• Also: Forza Horizon 6 launches May 19 and will be available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC and Xbox Cloud as an Xbox Play Anywhere title, and playable day one with Xbox Game Pass
• Xbox will hold FanFest events around the world

Tips & picks

• Tip of the week: So you want to try gaming on Linux
• App pick of the week: Google Chrome
• RunAs Radio this week: Securing AI Agents with Niall Merrigan
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Corowa Peated Single Barrel 521

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

Sponsors:

• zscaler.com/security
• helixsleep.com/windows
• cachefly.com/twit

Microsoft's AI ambitions overflowed into GitHub, sparking backlash when ads appeared in pull requests and raising new concerns about where your code is really going. GitHub is going to automatically use your data to train AI, so Paul tells how to opt-out if you don't want that. Plus, there's a new Microsoft 365 alternative in town, and this one is from a little tech company you can trust.

Windows

• Week D updates go live last Thursday - Smart App Control, many other minor changes
• And here we go again: Microsoft issues emergency patch for March Week D optional update
• Microsoft says it will replace web-based in-box apps and experiences with native apps ... somehow
• Four builds across three channels - Canary with opt-in gets a huge Windows Console upgrade, Dev/Beta get Administrator Protection (again), more
• AMD has a new flagship gaming processor

AI/Dev

• Microsoft Research AI has a new Critique feature that uses ChatGPT and Claude together in an unholy Frankenstein's monster of orchestration
• A week of Siri AI rumors/leaks - This is Apple's version of Microsoft trying to buy TikTok
• Google makes it easier to switch to Gemini - This is like Mac vs. PC, but for AI
• Mozilla's approach to AI in Firefox is both right and correct
• The plan to the save the open web from Big Tech
• The future of Firefox includes a Smart Window mode that works like Private window but for AI
• SwiftUI SDK for Android is now available

Xbox and gaming

• New Xbox chief seeks to reset Xbox brand image - reminder, that's not the same as changing anything
• Xbox announces 14 Day One Game Pass titles coming soon
• Xbox Games Showcase 2026 and Gears of War E-Day Direct are coming in June
• Sony to raise PS5 prices soon
• Nintendo to raise prices for physical Switch 2 games soon

Tips & picks

• Tip of the week: Opt-out of training AI on GitHub
• App pick of the week: Proton Workspace with Meet
• RunAs Radio this week: My Home Lab
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Jeptha Creed Six Year Old Wheated Bourbon

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

Sponsors:

• threatlocker.com/twit
• joindeleteme.com/twit promo code TWIT

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