Leo, Richard, and Paul discuss the best new Windows 11 features from 2025, gaming on Arm, AI, two big Epic Games wins, Xbox, and much more.
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Windows 11
Best Windows 11 updates of 2025. We were inundated with new features in 2025, but which ones actually moved the needle? 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
- Paint: Background removal, Generative Fill, Generative Erase, Object Select
- Photos: Restyle Image, Super Resolution, Relight
- Notepad: Writing Tools, plus Markdown support and you can turn it all off if you don’t want it
- Snipping Tool: Ask Copilot and Visual Search with Bing integrations
- 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
- And a lot more
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 in Windows that actually work?
- Windows 12?
- AI PCs, Copilot+ PCs … do we need all these brands? Will local AI ever make sense?
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
OpenAI responds
Opera Neon is now generally available for $20 per month
Some thoughts on the “right” way to roll out AI features
- 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
- Related: Many small models vs. one big LLM in the cloud
Mobile
Two big wins for Epic Games
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 and picks
Tip of the year: De-enshittify Windows 11
Just discussed this last week, sorry, but it’s the big one.
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
- MSEdgeDirect to use my default web browser for stories from Widgets, web-based search results, etc.
- ExplorerPatcher to fix the performance and reliability issues in File Explorer
App pick of the year: Fortnite
Fortnite isn’t just back on iPhone and Android, it’s available on Windows 11 on Arm and it works great.
RunAs Radio this week: Zero Trust in 2026 with Michele Bustamante
https://runasradio.com/Shows/Show/1015
Brown liquor pick of the week: Lark Symphony No. 1
https://larkdistillery.com/products/symphony-no1