December 2025's Patch Tuesday brought major shifts, but the real action is in Microsoft's pricing, privacy battles, and the arms race to control AI-enabled browsers. Plus, Paul recommends Tiny11 Builder for a clean install, or Win11Debloat for an existing install. Then, Rufus to create installation media without the forced Microsoft account (MSA) sign-in or hardware requirement checks. Use MSEdgeDirect to use the default web browser for stories from Widgets, web-based search results, etc. And ExplorerPatcher can fix the performance and reliability issues in File Explorer.

It's the final Patch Tuesday of 2025

• Major dark mode updates (with a fix for the "flashbang" problem)
• AI Agent in Settings, Click to Do, Windows Studio Effects, and Search improvements for Copilot+ PCs
• Many other improvements: FSE, Share, Settings, Widgets, more

More Windows 11

• New 25H2 preview build on Beta/Dev adds MCP public preview, Quick Machine Recovery auto-enabled, Unified Update Orchestration Platform, Windows MIDI services

Microsoft 365

• Microsoft 365 is getting a lot more expensive in mid-2026. You didn't think all those free AI updates were free, did you?

AI

• Paul has been talking about "programmatic" apps and services because he wasn't sure of a term for this type of interaction. But there is a term for this: Semantic. As in semantic web. And there you go
• Microsoft one of 1,000 companies partnering on Agentic AI Foundation because you're getting agents whether they work or not
• Gartner says NO to AI web browsers
• The New York Times is suing Perplexity for all the obvious reasons
• After a big win in the legal battle with OpenAI
• Opera for Android gets a big AI update
• Google Workspace Studio brings code-free agent creation to business users - automation is a solid AI use case

Xbox

• Xbox Series X|S notably absent during Black Friday sales
• Call of Duty won't repeat the mistakes of the past anymore since it didn't work out twice now
• MS Flight Simulator 2024 is now available on PS5
• Red Dead Redemption comes to mobile for the first time, free with a Netflix account

Tips & Picks

• Tip and app(s) of the week: De-enshittify Windows 11
• RunAs Radio this week: Incident Management and the Crowdstrike Event with Liam Westley
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Old Farm Pennsylvania Straight Rye Whiskey

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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Can the AI boom survive its own hype? This episode takes on the future of OpenAI, tech's subscription fatigue, and why "Made with AI" labels might be the new scarlet letter. Plus, Microsoft's ugly sweaters are back for some reason.

Windows 11

• Week D comes a week late and in the wrong month, but it's a big one, and a preview of what to expect next week in Patch Tuesday
• More pervasive dark mode
• Copilot+ PC exclusives: Improvements to Click to Do, Windows Search, Windows Studio Effects, Agent in Settings
• Expansion of FSE availability
• Improvements across Settings, Share, File Explorer, Desktop Spotlight, more
• Aluminium OS is the name of the ChromeOS/Android Frankenstein that will take on Windows
• Android 16 QPR2 is here with about 1,000 new features and maybe a saner approach to OS updating than what we see on Windows

AI

• AI slop is no enshittification: Human error is still a much bigger issue
• Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney is right: The "Made with AI" label is silly and needs to go
• OpenAI declares a "code red" after Google finally figured out AI
• Opera quietly does an about-face on AI in its browsers
• Opera Neon gets one-minute deep research, Gemini 3, and Nano Banana

Xbox and gaming

• Mortal Kombat 1, more coming to Game Pass in first half of December
• Valve is quietly bringing SteamOS, Windows games to Arm

Tips & picks

• Tip of the week: Time to cull
• Tip of the week #2: Time to look back
• RunAs Radio this week: The M365 Copilot Data Readiness Checklist with Nikki Chapple
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Stumbras Starka

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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Pavan Davuluri only spoke at one Ignite 2025 session, and it did not deserve the hate he got. But what did he really say?

• Copilot is a front-end for apps and cloud AI services, agents are background processes.
• Apps in Windows need to become programmatic so AI and agents can control them.
• You are in control. You being IT and the user. These experiences are off by default, opt-in, and optional. This is the end of whatever BS argument anyone has about this stuff.
• Copilot Voice because AI is better when you babble and is often more natural than typing
  • Key concept: Apps, CLIs, etc. expect exact commands, AI is all about intent, just do what I want, not exactly what I say. This is why, yes, people WILL want to talk to their PCs (and other devices)
• UIs for these new features will look/feel natural in Windows
  • Search box in Taskbar is getting updated to orchestrate between local/web search and Copilot capabilities, including agents
  • Agents will appear as app icons in Taskbar when fired, can be check in on, can post notifications for you to attend to
  • Integration of M365 Copilot capabilities with Windows - Better together story, with things like Writing Assistance for every text box
  • Accessibility updates thanks to AI - Fluid Dictation, which is what makes Copilot Voice make so much sense
• All the security, privacy, and IT management the audience expects

Windows Insider Program

• Dev and Beta builds include Full Screen Experience on all PCs, new Notepad app, more

Hardware - Earnings

• Lenovo PC business up 12 percent to $15.1 billion, 25.6 percent unit share
• HP up 4 percent to $14.6 billion, but job cuts for AI are coming
• Dell PC business up 3 percent to $1.41 billion

AI and Stuff

• Microsoft releases local Fara-7B agentic model for computer use
• ChatGPT's new coding model is optimized for Windows
• Dear God, you must see Nano Banana Pro to understand Google's lead
• Google is bringing AirDrop to Android, starting with Pixel. This is what happens when regulators "force design changes on OS makers."

Xbox and Gaming

• Xbox Cloud Gaming usage is up 45 percent YOY. Sure. What's 45 percent of 3 people?
• Xbox Cloud Gaming is adding per-game resolution settings, to 1440p for Game Pass Ultimate customers
• ROG Xbox Ally is getting default game profiles, in preview for 40 titles now
• Microsoft open sources the source code for Zork, Zork II, and Zork III
• New Chromebook buyers get one year of Nvidia GeForce NOW with Fast Pass

Tips and Picks

• Tip of the week: Finding experts is more important than ever
• We live in the age of stupid. Find the smart and never let go
• Also, Xbox is having a good Black Friday sale
• App pick of the week: Copilot Mode in Microsoft Edge
• Also: Perplexity Comet on Android

RunAs Radio this week: Christmas Gifts for SysAdmins with Joey Snow and Rick Claus

• https://runasradio.com/Shows/Show/1012

Brown liquor pick of the week: Sidetrack Stone Whisky

• https://www.huskdistillers.com/shop/sidetrack-stone-whisky

These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/960

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

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