The Windows 25H2 update is shrouded in mystery, but does it actually bring anything new to the table... or just more headaches for upgraders? Paul has been updating the Field Guide for 25H2, which will be an all-new addition. This is a chance to re-evaluate workarounds on unsupported hardware. This one still works: You can easily upgrade any Windows 10 or 11 PC, supported or not, using the 25H2 ISO and the D:\setup.exe /product server command line.

Windows 11

• 25H2 is out. Or is it? (New segment: This week in no one has 25H2 yet)
• New Dev and Beta builds enforce MSA at first sign-in
• This is the right choice for everybody, and enthusiasts can still use a local account sign-in
• After a leak, Microsoft announces new OneDrive client with Copilot integration and agents are on the way (of course they are), with new mobile clients etc.
• Mozilla Firefox finally supports profiles, PWAs
• Also, Brave has over 100 million users now

AI

• OpenAI inks a major deal with AMD too
• ChatGPT is now a platform with support for third-party apps
• Perplexity Comet now free to all with usage limits

Xbox and gaming

• Hand-wringing over Xbox reaches all-time high with Game Pass Ultimate price hike
• How bad is it and what can Xbox do to reassure fans?
• Microsoft: Just kidding on Game Pass Ultimate price hike, but only in certain countries
• Microsoft: No, we have not cancelled the next-gen Xbox console
• Hands-on with the Legion Go 2! Windows can work as a mobile gaming platform. Just not right now
• New Game Pass titles across PC, console, and cloud for early October a bit later than usual
• Free, ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming tier is on the way
• Total victory for Epic Games in Epic v. Google, Google must open up Play Store this month

Tips & picks

• Tip of the week: Upgrade to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware
• App pick of the week: Opera Neon
• RunAs Radio this week: Managing for Failure with Amy Norris
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Weller 12

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

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Windows 11 version 25H2 is here, but blink and you might miss the difference from last year! Also, Microsoft just hiked Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to $30/month and is leaving gamers everywhere weighing their subscriptions—and their loyalty.

25H2 is here?!

• Microsoft announced that 25H2 is GA! But where is it?
• And what is it? Microsoft has a list of "new" features

More Windows 11

• Microsoft delivers the 24H2 Week D update in Week E
• No, it's not the preview version of 25H2 for some reason
• But it is a massive update. And it is essentially 25H2
• Pavan Davuluri was promoted to president and his first change was to bring Windows engineering back in-house and out of Azure
• Dev and Beta: Minor changes to File Explorer, Quick settings, Get Started
• Photos app is getting AI-based categories
• Windows 10 Extended Security Updates to be free-free in the EU

Snapdragon X2

• It's real and it's really better than almost anything out there. The bad news: Not until next year
• Hardware prototypes point the way for device makers
• Arm is the epiphany we need for everything to just work
• Also, apparently Qualcomm still makes phone chips
• Qualcomm declares "total litigation victory" against Arm Holdings. More like Harm Holdings, ammmi right?

AI

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella steps aside to focus on engineering
• Microsoft enters a new era for Copilot/AI
• "More Copilot" is the new "more cowbell"
• Microsoft 365 Premium is the AI-powered subscription you were looking for, Copilot Pro is out
• This maps neatly to the three app structure model and to Paul's "I will not pay for AI" thing
• Tied to this, Microsoft also announced inside app vibe working updates across Office apps
• Is this also tied to low uptick on paid AI? Report claims just 8 million seats for Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Stevie Bathiche came to Hawaii to talk about the importance of NPUs and on-device AI
• "Directive AI, 80 TOPS NPUs enable concurrent AI, AI agents are the "outside app" structure, Orchestration is evolving
• Copilot users can talk to a cartoon now

Xbox and gaming

• Major revamp to Xbox Game Pass with some good and some bad
• Xbox Cloud Gaming is out of beta after what feels like 17 years, now on all Game Pass tiers
• Game Pass Ultimate gets big price hike but also some improvements
• Game Pass Premium replaces Standard
• Game Pass Essential replaces Core
• Amazon Luna got a big update too
• You can preorder a ROG Xbox Ally Gaming handheld now
• And Microsoft announces how it will handle compatibility
• Costco drops Xbox consoles
• Flight Simulator 2024 is coming to P5 in 2025
• EA goes private for $55 billion

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Videogames are getting expensive
• App pick of the week: Proton Mail
• RunAs Radio this week: HaveIBeenPwned with Troy Hunt
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Compass Box Vellichor
  

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 Thurrott reports live from Maui with exciting details on Qualcomm's next-gen Snapdragon X2 Elite chip and how it could shake up the PC world, while behind the scenes, Microsoft quietly drifts further from OpenAI just as an NVIDIA mega-deal makes headlines. Is Windows about to get its biggest reboot in years, and can ARM finally topple Intel?

Windows

• 25H2 is imminent: The real ISOs and eKBs are here!
• Paul's Arm-based trip to Mexico and Arm-based Apple-tastic experience at Snapdragon Summit
• And yet. It's Week D. And we didn't get any preview updates (for 24H2)
• Windows AI Labs is a thing
• If you're migrating from Windows 10 get a Windows 11 on Arm PC, Microsoft suggests
• New AI features coming to Notepad, Paint, and Snipping Tool
• New Dev and Beta (and Canary) builds: Click to Do translation, Share with Copilot, Accounts management improvements

AI

• The Microsoft/OpenAI rift widens yet again
• NVIDIA invests $100 billion in OpenAI, days after "investing" $5 billion in Intel
• Intel will keep making its own GPUs because who gives a crap
• Microsoft is bringing Anthropic Claude to Microsoft 365 Copilot - "Model choice"
• Microsoft reportedly trying to pay publishers for content used by AI
• Microsoft Teams is getting more agents
• Google Chrome is getting a major AI update

Snapdragon Summit 2025

• 6G, AI as the new UI, glasses as the next wave, Android PCs out of nowhere
• X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme (with up to 18 cores for ultra-premium PCs)
• 3rd Gen Oryon CPU (X2 was 1st gen, last year's phone chip was G2)
• 75 percent faster CPU perf than competition at ISO power
• First Arm chip to hit 5+ GHz
• New Adreno GPU architecture with 2.3x perf per watt and power efficiency over previous gen
• Hexagon NPU with 80 TOPS for "concurrent AI experiences" on Copilot+ PCs
• Supports latest 5G SD X75 modem, Wi-Fi 7, BT 5.4
• 75 percent faster CPU perf than competition at ISO power
• Bad news: First half of 2026 availability
• Not in the press release: The secret of why X2 Elite Extreme is so fast

Xbox

• Microsoft raises Xbox console prices for the second time in 2025
• Here comes the Gaming Copilot on Windows 11
• Google is copying it on Android and bringing Android and native games to Windows now

Tips and Picks

• Tip of the week: Think of 1 story for everyone you care about
• App pick of the week: Notion 3.0
• RunAs Radio this week: Managing Vendor Incidents with Mandi Walls
• Brown liquor pick of the week: High Coast Whisky Quercus IV Mongolica

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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With Windows 10's end-of-life looming, Paul and Leo dissect the real risks, questionable hardware requirements, and whether dumping old PCs in landfills is an acceptable trade-off for modern security. Plus, why is Apple finally buying up touchscreen displays for MacBooks after years of resistance, and what could that mean for the future of both Mac and Windows hardware?

Windows

• Consumer Reports asks Microsoft to continue Windows 10 support
• Reminder: Windows 11 25H2 ISOs are available... x64 only, in Insider Preview. Arm version is from Dev channel and is a VHDX
• Dev (25H2) and Beta (24H2) - Copilot prompt in Click to Do, Prompt recommendations in Start, controller navigation for gaming handhelds, SCOOBE, agents in the Store, more
• Release Preview (24H2 AND 25H2) - Click to Do table detection, action tags, and Summarize improvements; agent in Settings improvements, Hardware indicator improvements, more
• Quick Machine Recovery is a solid addition to your recovery toolbox
• Microsoft releases Windows 365 Cloud Apps in Preview
• A MacBook with a touch screen? Oh the irony

Microsoft 365

• Microsoft finally settles Teams antitrust case with EU and you're not going to believe what happens next
• Microsoft 365 desktop apps (i.e. "Office") gets Copilot chat even for free - Web grounded? That's ungrounded, right?
• Microsoft 365 commercial pulls in previously separate sales, service, and financial services
• Outlook Lite is heading off to a farm to chase rabbits
• No more Office file editing in Microsoft 365 Copilot app for iPhone and iPad

AI

• OpenAI and Microsoft hint at another major restructuring of their partnership
• Auto AI model selection comes to Visual Studio Code. Your orchestration is showing
• Visual Studio 2026 on .NET Rocks and the recent news about configuring GitHub Copilot in VS 20xx.

Hardware

• October is going to be a big month for new hardware
• Apple rumored for October
• Google Home on October 1 with Gemini
• Amazon devices (September 30, close enough)
• Where are the next-gen PC chips?

Xbox & games

• Third-party store integration comes to Xbox app on Windows
• Microsoft kicks off another big half month for Xbox Game Pass
• Epic Games can't stop beating Google in court

Tips & Picks

• Tip of the week: Improve Windows 11 security
• App pick of the week: Google app for Windows

Hosts: Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott

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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Windows 11 just dropped one of its biggest updates yet, but new features and relentless AI integrations are making right-click menus bigger—and more confusing—than ever. Is Windows getting better, or just busier?

Windows 11
• Patch Tuesday arrives with several new features for all Windows 11 users
• A few new features added for Copilot+ PCs
• This may be the last cumulative update before 25H2

Windows Insider
• New Canary build includes features we've seen before
• Copilot+ PCs bring Windows Studio Effects to secondary cameras in Dev and Beta channels

Hardware
• 40-year Intel veteran now leads PC chips business
• Paul's continued criticism of Lunar Lake problems
• Lenovo's three IFA concept devices should become shipping products

Apps
• Atlassian acquires The Browser Company, potentially threatening the Dia browser

Microsoft
• Microsoft mandates employees return to office three days per week
• Microsoft accused of "gross cybersecurity negligence"

Dev
• Microsoft open sources 6502 BASIC
• First Visual Studio 2026 preview now available
• Individual developers can register for Microsoft Store for free

Mobile
• Google ships Android 16 QPR1 with Material 3 Expressive on Pixel devices plus September Pixel Drop
• Apple announces iPhone 17 lineup, iPhone Air, AirPods Pro 3, and new Apple Watches
• Comparison of OS updating styles between Apple, Google, and Microsoft and their impact on hardware upgrades

AI
• Microsoft to pay almost $20 billion for third-party AI infrastructure
• Microsoft may turn to Anthropic for Office apps
• Anthropic settles with book authors, then judge rejects the settlement (Apple faces similar lawsuit)
• Google details all Gemini tier offerings
• Firefox will use Apple Intelligence on iPhones with iOS 26

Xbox and Games
• Lenovo Legion Go 2 coming in October with new Xbox Ally OS in early 2026
• Xbox to announce games at Tokyo Game Show on September 25
• Xbox Cloud Gaming coming to select cars
• PlayStation 6 will be modular

Tips and Picks
• Something to read: iWar by Tim Higgins
• Something to watch: New Dave Plumber interview on YouTube
• Something to get for free: Microsoft 365 free for US students for one year
• Something to plan for: Proton offers emergency access on accounts
• RunAs Radio this week: Training for AI with Stephanie Donahue
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Boplaas 8 Single Grain 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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Paul Thurrott is in Berlin this week for IFA 2025! With AI models multiplying across devices and Microsoft plotting a post-OpenAI future, Paul and Richard debate whether Copilot and local AI finally hint at what's next for your PC. Paul also reacts to the surprising Google antitrust ruling, questioning whether judges are truly willing to rein in Big Tech or just maintain the status quo. Has the battle for online competition already been lost?

Windows 11

• Four new builds issued in the Insider Program at the same time (rare)
• Dev and Beta: New Microsoft 365 text actions in Click to Do, Braille Viewer, more Share changes
• Canary: Nothing to see here, move along
• The Mobile Plans app you never used in Windows 11 is going away
• Windows Backup for Organizations is here
• Dolby Vision 2 is on the way
• Dell hits record revenues, but not because of PCs - PC revenues $12.5 billion, up 1 percent
• HP revenues up 3.1 percent and it is because of PCs - PC revenues $9.9 billion, up 6 percent
• Reminder that Lenovo is curiously dominant in this market - PC revenues $13.5 billion, up 18 percent

Antitrust

• Google unexpectedly given a pass on egregious antitrust violations
• "We don't do these things because they are hard"

Ensh*ttification

• Amazon begins restricting the ability to share Prime free shipping within a household
• This, from the company that makes you pay to remove ads from a video service you're already paying for
• YouTube is changing what it means to be in household

This week from the misinformation files

• Microsoft denied that it had anything to do with SSD fails
• Google denies that it warned 2.8 billion Gmail users about anything
• If it happened online, it must be real

AI

• Microsoft AI releases its first-ever in-house models and one is quite mysterious
• Copilot is coming to make your smart TVs dumber
• Anthropic will now train Claude on user data unless you opt out
• NVIDIA is still doing pretty well financially
• The Pixel 10 series phones are all about AI
• Camera Coach
• It's fascinating to reexamine the initial Pixel launch for its forward-leaning looks at AI, computational photography, and more

Xbox and games

• Xbox August Update brings a few interesting new features
• Activision inks deal to make a Call of Duty movie
• Hollow Knight: Silksong and more are coming to Game Pass in first half of September

Tips & picks

• Tip of the week
• App pick of the week: Vivaldi
• RunAs Radio this week: Episode 1000!
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Canadian Club 1858 Original

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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Protesters take over Microsoft's Building 34, objecting to the company's technology being allegedly used by Israel. Is it more than simply cybersecurity usage, and how is Microsoft handling employee activism? In other news, Gemini suddenly vaults to the front of AI image editing capability, and the OG Gears of War has been remastered at least twice (but now it's cross-platform).

Windows 11

• Resume from your (Android) phone in testing in Dev and Beta channels
• Copilot app gets semantic search and new home page across all Insider channels
• 25H2 feature focus: Administrator Protection probably works but it's more disruptive than even UAC was
• Windows 11 gets a nice Bluetooth quality update
• Parallels Desktop 26 for Mac is out, but it's a minor update for individuals

Microsoft 365

• Microsoft to fix one of the biggest issues with Word
• Reminder: OneNote for Windows 10 hits EOL in October

AI

• Apple's AI floundering continues as it considers a Perplexity or Mistral acquisition
• And tests a Gemini AI model for Siri in-house
• Perplexity offers a $5 per month Comet Plus subscription that pays content makers
• Anthropic sort of brings Claude extension to Chrome
• NotebookLM audio and video overviews are now available in over 80 languages
• And AI Mode is now available in Search in over 180 countries
• Norton's AI web browser gets off to a rough start
• Proton Lumo gets a big update
• Rant: The real problem with the Windows 2030 talk, and why everyone (on both sides) is wrong about AI

Dev

• Microsoft lets Visual Studio devs tune-down GitHub Copilot, finally
• Microsoft makes some progress with improving Windows App SDK, supposedly

Xbox and gaming

• Xbox Cloud Gaming expands to Xbox Game Pass Core Standard, adds PC games for the first time
• Steam and other stores come to Xbox app on PC
• Activision says it will reverse some of the stupidity it introduced in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
• Nintendo invented the 30 percent fee that's still common today in digital app/game stores, but when it did so, the fee actually made sense... and it still does today, but only for the videogame industry

Tips & Picks

• Tip of the week: Edit images with Gemini
• Tip of the week: Subscribe to Chris's new newsletter, The Windows ReadMe
• App pick of the week: Gears of War
• App pick of the week: NVIDIA Broadcast app

Hosts: Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott

Guest: Chris Hoffman

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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Leo, Paul, and Richard break down Google's Pixel 10 launch spectacle, poking fun at celebrity overkill and asking whether anyone actually cares about new phones anymore. Plus, they dig into Lenovo's record-breaking quarter, surprising shifts in the PC market, and the ongoing struggle between innovation and copycatting in the AI arms race. Also, Notion has finally added basic offline support, which should make it stickier than ever.

You got your AI in my Windows

• Pavan Davuluri discusses how AI will impact the Windows user experience
• Not the same video series as the previous "vision" video
• Davuluri leads Windows and Surface, so his words matter
• Changing: Interactions, business models, experiences
• Multimodal - in this case, meaning adding natural language interactions and vision to keyboard, mouse, touch, pen, etc. - "experience diversity"
• Powerful AI models running on-device are "transformational"
• Predictably, the Chicken Littles are losing their s#%t yet again. Guys. Come on.

Windows 11

• Semantic search and new Copilot home page for all Insiders
• Click to Do selection modes, minor improvements in Beta and Dev
• Recall and other Copilot+ PC features FINALLY come to Canary
• A few minor additions to Canary, nothing new to everyone else
• Notepad is getting an updated context menu and the Chicken Littles are losing their s#%t yet again. Guys. Come on!
• Lenovo earnings up 22 percent, best PC market share ever, number one in AI PCs too

AI

• Google Chrome takes the subtle approach
• Brave found a major security vulnerability in Comet
• Like my wife, Gemini remembers everything I ever said now
• Duck.ai gets GPT-5 Mini access, web search results
• Grammarly announces CODA-based editor, several AI agents

Xbox and games

• Another stunning Windows on Arm development
• The Xbox app actually works now on Windows 11 on Arm, meaning not just game streaming but also downloads. Except, of course, that it mostly doesn't work
• Heretic/Hexen installs and runs great
• Asus ROG Xbox Ally handhelds to launch on October 16
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 with four-player co-op campaign
• Indiana Jones coming to the Switch 2
• Gears of War: Reloaded, more coming to Game Pass in late August
• To help Xbox, Sony raises prices on the PS5
• GeForce Now gets more powerful cloud GPUs

Tips & picks

• Tip of the week: Windows 11 Field Guide, 25H2 Edition is on the way
• App pick of the week: Notion
• RunAs Radio this week: Data Governance for AI with Martina Grom
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Chichibu Ichiro's Malt & Grain 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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