PCMag has bet on expertise, quality, and reader trust, and I believe there’s still a hunger for human-created writing made with care. That’s what The Windows ReadMe — and all my writing, going back to the early days of How-To Geek — has always been about.

As part of this, I’ll have to hit the pause button on The Windows ReadMe. But first, I have a few more things I really want to say:

👋 If you are a paying subscriber, first: Thank you so much! This newsletter has zero ads, so you’ve made it possible for me to spend time on this project. I’ve always thought of paid subscriptions more as tips given to support my work, and they’ve meant a lot to me. If you’d like a refund anyway, just reply to this email and I’ll take care of it.

Where to find me going forward

📩 PCMag’s Windows Guide newsletter will be a good place to hear from me in the future!

📝 My PCMag author page shows my recent work, too — I’ve had the pleasure of freelancing for them for a while!

🔔 I have LinkedIn and X accounts — and I’ve just created a Bluesky account, too, in case you’re interested. Maybe I’ll use them more in the future.

Support Thurrott.com with 50% off!

I have to take this moment to thank Paul Thurrott for partnering with me on this newsletter. I remain a huge fan of his work, and we’re already talking about ways we might work together in the future.

Paul Thurrott’s work is worth supporting, and I really enjoy reading his writing at Thurrott.com. I wanted to do something special for our readers and encourage you to check out his work, so here’s a code for 50% off on a Thurrott Premium subscription: WINDOWSREADME

To redeem it:

1. Head to Thurrott.com and create an account if you don’t already have one.

2. Head to the Thurrott Premium page.

3. Click “Purchase membership.”

4. Click “Add promotion code” and enter: WINDOWSREADME

Paul says this should be valid for the next two weeks.

(Bonus: Thurrott Premium members now get all his books for free!)

💸 Full disclosure: I’m receiving no compensation from Paul or Thurrott.com for sharing this. I just want to support his work and encourage you to check it out.

A thanks to my clients

I’ve been freelancing for awesome clients while writing The Windows ReadMe, and I wanted to highlight a few of them:

• PCWorld is an incredible publication full of people who really care. I had the pleasure of spending time with them at CES a few months ago, and I’ve had the pleasure of writing lots of laptop reviews and editorials about PC hardware and Windows there over the past few years. I wish the PCWorld team nothing but the best, and I will truly miss working with them.

• Micro Center News, run by the awesome Dan Ackerman, is incredible. I’m impressed by what Dan and his team have been able to accomplish. Micro Center News gave me the ability to stretch my wings and try my hand at topics I wouldn’t normally cover, too, like explaining LLM quantization in plain English. (I firmly believe there’s not enough coverage of LLM topics from this sort of geeky technical perspective, and that local AI will be big in the future. But that’s another topic.)

• AskWoody, as a long-term publication founded on direct relationships with paying readers, has been an inspiration. It was an honor to be part of it. I wish there were more publications like AskWoody left on the web — the web would be a much better place.

This isn’t an exhaustive list — just the ones I most wanted to share.

Oh, more newsletters!

I also want to thank JR Raphael of Android Intelligence and Jared Newman of Advisorator and Cord Cutter Weekly. I worked with JR for two years, and he made The Windows ReadMe possible. And Jared has been a great guy.

They’re both excellent individuals, and their independent newsletters are worth checking out. They inspired by efforts here with The Windows ReadMe.

Also: Dan’s Tech Support with Dan Ackerman newsletter is excellent, too!

Most importantly: A thank you to you

Thanks for being one of the readers who’ve made my career possible. Being a journalist means change, and this is another one of those moments of change. I’ve gone through so many different platforms and worked with so many different people in my career, but what persists is my voice — and the fact that people want to read it.

Now, my voice will be at PCMag, and The Windows ReadMe will go quiet. It’s the way of things.

But I’m still proud of what I built here — a place where I could write whatever I wanted, even if it was too personal for most publications or not the kind of thing that would get viral traffic. It was a lot of fun.

👀 Here’s a meditative piece I wrote about how my writing is just like my performing Shakespeare on stage. I originally sent it just to my paying subscribers, but I just made it available to everyone. It’s a statement of what I was trying to do here. And it’s probably the most personal thing I’ve ever written and published. Consider it an Easter egg for reading this far!

👋 So thank you for everything! The Windows ReadMe will still exist, but it’ll be on pause while I focus my energies on PCMag. Catch me there!

I expect I’ll be using non-Windows operating systems more in the future. Apple just announced a $599 MacBook in a world where Windows PCs are getting more expensive. Google is planning on launching an Android-based Aluminium OS, fusing ChromeOS and Android. Valve is pushing its Linux-based SteamOS into the living room, on VR headsets, and behind.

Yes, there are one billion Windows 11 PCs. But also, the enthusiast energy around Windows is not particularly positive. Microsoft has a real perception problem on its hands, and alternatives might start getting more attention.

But PCs have always been more than Windows. For example: Macs are PCs, too. They always have been!

Rather than predicting how the laptop market is about to transform, I want to look back at my own journey. So, this week, I want to share the times I left Windows for Linux, Chrome OS, and Mac OS X — and why I keep coming back. Let’s see what the past tells us about the future.

Windows Me: My Year of the Linux Desktop

Linux was the first operating system that lured me away from Windows. After Windows Me came out, I had an incredibly rough time with it on my PC hardware. In a search for stability — and because I had a geeky friend who was into Linux at the time — I turned to Linux.

I started with Mandrake Linux — I think it was version 9.1 or 9.2. After installing it on my PC, it was stable. While I had some setup challenges (I’m not joking when I said I had to manually assign IRQ values to my sound card on my first Linux PC), I never had the crashes I had on Windows Me. Linux was rock solid.

Linux was exciting, too. It was a whole new world with a different philosophy about open-source, freedom, and community. Rather than a single operating system and one desktop environment, the community offered a gloriously messy ecosystem of different Linux distributions, desktop environments, and other software.

I enjoyed it a lot. I dual-booted Linux and Windows, using Windows for PC gaming and other software that needed Windows, but I stuck with Linux as my main operating system for years. Windows XP was a big improvement over Windows Me, though, and Windows caught up to Linux in a real way. Eventually, I was spending a lot of time with both Linux and Windows XP. I loved them both.

So why did I come back to Windows? Well, honestly: When I started writing online, it was clear there was a bigger audience for Windows than Linux. I spent more and more time with my Windows install, and I gradually did more and more writing about Windows. If you go back and read the writing I was doing 10+ years ago, however, there was a lot more Linux coverage there. If Linux takes off, I’ll be writing a lot more about it, too!

Interlude: The simple fantasy of Chrome OS

When Google launched Chrome OS, I was intrigued. It was cool that Google based it on Linux, but what was really fascinating was the idea that a laptop could be stripped down to be “only” a web browser.

Chrome OS was desktop Linux for the masses, too. The initial version of Chrome OS was basically just a full-screen Chrome browser window running on Gentoo Linux — no taskbar and no multiple floating windows on screen.

I was more intrigued by the idea back then. The simplicity was appealing. I wanted to believe in the simple, web-based future. But I’ll be honest — for anything beyond basic web tasks, Chrome OS wasn’t there. I remember trying to edit images on the original release of Chrome OS — this involved using Adobe Flash or HTML5-based image editors that were extremely clunky compared to real desktop apps.

That image-editing experience was the canary in the coal mine for ChromeOS. The simplicity was skin deep. Trying to do anything mildly advanced turned into a mess because the web-based software ecosystem just wasn’t mature yet.

Why did I shift away from Chromebooks? Honestly, I couldn’t get my writing done on a Chromebook — even if I was writing about Chrome OS. The image editors didn’t work well enough, and file management was obnoxious compared to desktop experiences. Chromebooks felt like tools for consumption and not productivity. I set them down and refocused on “full” desktop experiences like Windows, desktop Linux, and — yes — the Mac.

Windows 8: My flirtation with the Mac

Growing up, I had PCs. I rarely used Macs. There was a computer lab at my high school where I sometimes wrote essays, and they used Macs. I never liked the Macs in the computer lab. They were shiny, but I remember their one-button mice that felt obnoxious to me as a PC user. I just wanted to get my schoolwork done, not learn a whole new way to use a computer!

Many years later, I was writing for How-To Geek (among other publications) when Windows 8 came out. Windows 8 was a shock to my system — it seemed Microsoft was heading in the way of Windows being a closed platform focused primarily on touchscreen apps. I was in mourning and wondering if I was about to leave Windows behind.

Also, beyond Windows 8, I wanted to write about something new — to expand my horizons. I needed a break from explaining things like how to access the Charms bar with your mouse — what a terrible interface that was. How-To Geek needed more Mac OS X coverage, and I needed to better understand Apple’s operating system. So I bought a MacBook Air.

While I never switched completely to the Mac, I did use a MacBook regularly for a few years. Boot Camp existed in those days, and I dual-booted Windows 8 and Mac OS X on the same PC. I thought my MacBook Air was an excellent Windows laptop, actually! I took it on trips and wrote about both Mac OS X and Windows 8 using the same laptop.

Why did I stop using Mac OS X so much? After Microsoft pivoted away from Windows 8 and decided Windows should be an operating system focused on the mouse and keyboard — and an open platform, to boot — I was less interested in Macs. I felt like I could stick with Windows. Plus, I’ll be honest: My history was with Windows. I preferred the feel of the Windows desktop experience to the Mac desktop. And Windows had a bigger audience — I wanted to serve Windows readers better.

So where does that leave me in 2026?

In 2026, I’m writing this on my Surface Laptop running Windows 11 after stepping away from my Windows 11-powered desktop PC. Windows is the operating system I use most.

I have a MacBook running macOS around here, too, and I’ve reviewed Chromebooks for PCWorld. Readers have recommended Linux distributions to me over the past few years, and I’d like to try more of them. I want to stretch my proverbial wings and dive more into non-Windows desktop operating systems — and I plan to do that soon.

Also, I have a Steam Deck — and it’s a great handheld experience. I’m eager to see Valve do more with it! I love that desktop Linux is lurking there right under the Steam experience, too.

Windows is still my preferred operating system, but I plan on spending more time with Macs. I’m eager to get my hands on Google’s Aluminium. I want to put a SteamOS-powered Steam Machine in my living room. And I’d love to test out more Linux distributions.

Windows always seems to lure me back. Let’s see if that keeps happening!

Heads up: No newsletter next week

One quick note — I’ll be taking a vacation next week, so no newsletter next Friday.

Want something to read in the meantime? Jared Newman’s Advisorator and Cord Cutter Weekly are great, as is JR Raphael’s Android Intelligence. I like their newsletters, and I like them both as individuals.

This week at Thurrott.com

As always, I’m proud to partner with Paul Thurrott on this newsletter, and I’m grateful for his endorsement over the past few years.

This week at Thurrott.com, Paul went hands on with the Google Pixel 10a. Chrome is switching to a two-week development schedule, and Bitwarden is getting support for passkeys on Windows 11.

Plus, Paul Thurrott published a chapter from his forthcoming book for Thurrott Premium subscribers. It’s a guide to making Windows 11 more secure. I love smart configuration guides like these.

Spring is near, and new plants are about to sprout

❄️ It’ll be snowing here in the northeast when you get the newsletter. I’ll probably be outside shoveling snow when this arrives in your inbox! But it’s about to warm up, and I’m looking forward to the world unthawing.

☀️ For a break from the snow, here’s a photo I took of a sunrise many years ago — or was it a sunset?

I’ll email you in a few weeks — I hope you have a great start of March.

One day, I opened it up and saw a “category” system that looked straight out of a smartphone’s application menu. Now, I can dig through “Other” to find random applications.

I don’t think most people want this. So let’s see how to clean things up — and figure out how we got into this mess. (Spoiler: Once again, it all goes back to Windows 8.)

What do we use a Start menu for?

Personally, I rarely use my Start menu — except as an application launcher with my keyboard. The applications I frequently use are pinned to my taskbar. When I want to launch another application, I press the Windows key, type its name, and press Enter.

I almost never need to dig through the Start menu. When I do, I probably want to see a complete list of the applications installed on my PC.

Back when Microsoft launched Windows 95 with the famous “Start Me Up” campaign, the Start button was the single place you went to do anything on your PC. And you navigated it with your mouse.

The Start menu transformed with Windows Vista, gaining a built-in search box. Now you could click Start or just press the Windows key and start typing to launch anything. And the Start menu hasn’t been the same since.

So what’s the point of a clickable menu in a world where the best way to launch applications is by typing?

Windows 8 solved this problem, but then Microsoft panicked

Here’s the funny thing: Microsoft had a solution back in Windows 8. The company realized that the classic Start menu wasn’t super important anymore. Instead, people needed:

• An application launcher that functioned as a widget system. (Live tiles were before their time!)

• A keyboard-centric search system to launch applications.

• A browsable full list of installed applications.

Windows 8’s Start screen delivered all those features.

Of course, Windows 8 also did a terrible job of adapting the interface to traditional desktop PCs. After Windows 8’s release, Microsoft began years of backpeddling on its vision for Windows.

Microsoft doesn’t know what the Start menu is supposed to be

Windows 10 had a Start menu that made sense, actually: A full list of apps and informational widgets in the form of live tiles. It was obvious what the Start menu was supposed to be.

Now, with live tiles gone — and widgets banished to the viral story-filled Widgets pane that most Windows users wisely try to avoid — Microsoft isn’t really sure what to do with the Start menu.

Beyond searching for apps, what are people supposed to do with this thing?

For the people who are browsing apps, Microsoft now defaults the start menu to a “category” view — likely to be more approachable to people who are more familiar with mobile platforms.

You can clean it up in a few clicks

Windows 11’s Start menu is still easily fixable if you want something more minimal. Here’s what I do:

• Open the Start menu, click “View” to the right of All Apps, and select “List.”

• Make apps you use frequently more accessible by right-clicking them and selecting “Pin to Start.”

• Head to Settings > Personalization > Start and turn off things you don’t want to see, like recently added apps, recommendations, and most used apps.

Done! Your Start menu is now cleaned up. Except… Wait, are you actually using the Start menu to launch applications very often?

I rarely do. In fact, even if I leave my the Start menu in its messy default state, that’s probably fine. If you just use the Start menu as a search tool, I won’t even notice what’s going on in there.

And, let’s be honest, if you do frequently use the Start menu and want something more powerful and flexible, there’s a good chance you’ve turned to a tool like Stardock’s Start11.

The Start menu isn’t even the best option for a keyboard launcher — it’s just the one that’s built into Windows. Microsoft’s own PowerToys Command Palette and PowerToys Run launchers are better. And, unlike the Start menu, they actually respect your default web browser and search engine choices.

Live tiles would be awesome right now

With the Windows Start menu losing steam and not offering many useful features, it seems like Microsoft could re-imagine it to be more useful.

Just imagine it: A Start menu full of useful information. Picture clicking the Start menu and seeing useful information — emails, weather, notifications, and other helpful details. The Start menu could be an informational dashboard, and those widgets could launch applications.

Oops: I just described live tiles. We had that experience in Windows 10’s Start menu. And they failed. Windows 11 abandoned live tiles.

There are lots of reasons live tiles failed: For one thing, they were closely tied to Microsoft’s “modern” UWP application framework. Originally, there was no good way for traditional desktop applications to take advantage of them. Even when Microsoft opened things up, the damage was done. I can’t remember a single traditional desktop app that took advantage of them.

Microsoft doesn’t have to bring back live tiles, but it should be thinking bigger. For now, we’re just getting a Start menu designed to look like a smartphone app launcher. That’s not very compelling.

But hey, maybe I’m wrong! You tell me:

Let’s see how many readers agree with me!

The latest from Thurrott.com

Paul Thurrott’s new book, De-Enshittify Windows 11, is now available for purchase. It’ll be free for Thurrott Premium subscribers.

The big news of the week is about Xbox, with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and Xbox President Sarah Bond leaving the company, replaced Asha Sharma, who has a background in AI. There’s some news about that recent reorganization.

Sharma is talking about the “return of Xbox,“ but Seamus Blackley — one of the cofounders of the original Xbox console — argues she’s going to preside over the end of Xbox.

And now, that’s it for this week. I’ll see you next week!

In short: It’s a free tool that lets you install “mods” for Windows and the applications you run.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Windhawk as I contemplate why Microsoft is pursuing the Windows Baseline Security Mode, too. So let’s talk about Windhawk — and the future of Windows.

Why Windhawk is fun (but don’t download it yet)

Imagine moving the taskbar, theming the Start menu, customizing the taskbar clock, making desktop windows translucent, and just generally changing the way Windows and the applications you use behave.

For example, I love making better use of my mouse wheel. With Windhawk, I can activate a mod that lets my switch between browser tabs by rolling my scroll wheel over my browser’s tab bar in Chrome, Brave, Edge. I can install mods that let me position my mouse wheel over the Windows taskbar and scroll to adjust the system volume, too. (You can view the full list of Windhawk mods here.)

Want to theme your taskbar or Start menu so they look totally different? In the screenshot below, I’ve turned Windows 11’s taskbar into a dock-style experience with a transparent background with a few clicks.

This is awesome. It’s the kind of power that, philosophically, should be available to all PC users out of the box. We should be able to deeply customize how our PCs work. Instead, we’re often fighting product decisions made by distant marketing departments.

Witness Windows 11’s taskbar, for example: While Microsoft will finally make the taskbar movable once again, it took 4-5 years of Windows users begging for this feature to come back before Microsoft decided to begrudgingly return it.

But, although it works, Windhawk isn’t perfect. In fact, as a tech journalist, I can’t “recommend” everyone download and use it. Instead, this piece isn’t a software recommendation: It’s an honest discussion of why Windhawk is awesome — and why you should be careful before using it, anyway.

It’s also a perfect example of the difficult spot Microsoft is in with Windows — trying to serve both people who want to run software like this on their PCs and people who wish their Windows PCs were locked down tight.

Windhawk hooks into running processes

Windhawk functions by injecting its DLL into most processes running on your system. If you’re familiar with Windows, this is already enough to get you at least a little uncomfortable — what does that mean for stability and security? (Here’s the official technical look at how it works and what it does on your PC.)

You can customize that behavior, if you want. But, while the developer says most programs are compatible with Windhawk, it’s possible you may run into bugs and find yourself tweaking its settings to fix problems.

Windhawk may also cause serious problems with PC games that use anti-cheat software. On the project’s explanation page I just linked, there’s a description of how Windhawk hardcodes the default installation paths of many PC games. If you installed games to a different folder — perhaps your Steam folder is on your D: drive — Windhawk will load its DLL into those game processes. You’ll have to go out of your way to exclude that folder to stop it.

As Windhawk may look similar to a cheating program that injects itself into multiplayer games to tamper with gameplay, it could — conceivably — even get your account banned from online play in some games.

A solid open-source reputation (but watch out for the mods)

The good news is that Windhawk and its mods are both open-source. Windhawk is created by Michael Maltsev (Ramen Software), also known as m417z, who also created 7+ Taskbar Tweaker. Unlike many unknown developers with sketchy GitHub projects that may contain malware, Windhawk has as good a pedigree of trust as you’ll find with a tool like this.

The bad news is a usual open-source problem. Yes, Windhawk’s mods are all open-source, and you can view their source code yourself. But many of them aren’t written by the core developer. Do you trust them? Are you equipped to audit their security? Do you want to trust that these mods will behave as advertised and not cause problems? Are you sure they aren’t going to spy on you? I haven’t heard of a problem with Windhawk mods yet, but the potential risks here make me uncomfortable.

When you install a mod, Windhawk warns you that you should “install mods only from authors you trust.” Are you really equipped to make a decision like that? (If you stick with mods from the creator of Windhawk — m417z — at least you aren’t trusting an additional author.)

Now you can make an informed decision

So where does that leave my recommendation? All of what I’ve written above is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge! It’s a mixed bag — a complicated picture — and you get to make up your own mind. If I was a Reddit commenter or dropping in on a forum, I might say “Windhawk is awesome. I haven’t had any problems with it.” And that would be enough.

But as a journalist writing for a broad audience, I have a responsibility to pause and say that I can’t exactly recommend you run this. I can’t tell you not to run it, either. Michael Maltsev has done a good job with this program, and it’s been around for a few years now. But it’s also not something I can vouch for — you proceed at your own risk if you use it.

Windhawk and the future of Windows

Windhawk is a perfect example of the power of Windows — and how it can be dangerous.

A locked-down operating system — like Microsoft’s Windows RT — wouldn’t allow you to do anything like this. You’d have to use Windows and your applications as designed. No extra tweaking allowed! But there’d be no risk of instability or other security problems with tools like Windhawk.

In a sense, Microsoft has created the need for tools like this one by refusing to give Windows users the options they want. The taskbar is the perfect example: There’s a whole ecosystem of third-party tools for moving the taskbar — from Windhawk to ExplorerPatcher and Stardock’s Start11 — that are necessary because Microsoft has, for years on end, refused to offer this option. They can cause problems and other bugs. Thankfully, Microsoft is finally relenting on this point, and Windows 11 will soon let you move your taskbar without installing a third-party app.

But other customizations — like taskbar and Start menu themes — will still require third-party tools like Windhawk. Microsoft can never deliver every feature people want as part of the Windows operating system. It’s just not possible.

Windhawk makes me think about the future of Windows, too. Microsoft is talking about a “Windows Baseline Security Mode” that PCs will be in by default, only letting properly signed software run and forcing apps to ask for your permission when they access your files, webcam, microphone, and other resources. According to Microsoft, this will only be a default — you can choose to opt out.

Some people will want to install Windhawk and other tools, treating their PCs as a glorious customization sandbox — even if there’s a risk of breakage. And some people will want Windows locked down tight, ensuring their data is secure — even if their PCs become less customizable.

Going forward, I hope Microsoft will continue offering both options. Your PC should work how you want it to work. Everyone should be able to make their own choices.

The latest from Thurrott.com

As always, I’m sharing the latest links from Paul Thurrott’s website — I’m grateful to have his endorsement! And I recommend following his work if you want to understand Windows — and technology in general.

This week, there’s some Windows Insider Program news. Canary builds are getting extra confusing. And Beta and Release Preview builds delivered a few small new features.

But the big pieces this week are Paul’s guides to “de-enshittifying” your Windows 11 PC for Thurrott Premium subscribers. He’s written up guides to cleaning up a fresh install, purging an existing install, and making Windows 11 respect your privacy. These will also be part of a full book he’s releasing soon!

🦅 Anyway — that’s all for this week. Good luck with the Windows tweaking, whether or not you decide to experiment with tools like Windhawk!

I enjoy reading Paul Thurrott’s “what I use” pieces, and I wanted to lay out what I personally use, too. I’ve had a lot of reader requests for this one!

So let’s get to it. But first...

The reality of writing about tech

When people ask what I use, they’re often looking for some surprising off-the-beaten path recommendations. But I’m not using a $5000 top-of-the-line laptop and an obscure collection of little-known software every day.

The things I use aren’t necessarily the best — they’re the things I choose to use. There are better laptops than the one I’m typing this on right now! But this laptop is mine.

I’d love to tell you how heavily I customize all my Windows PCs with Windhawk, or about my obscure Linux setup using a tiling window manager you’ve never heard of. But, over the years, I’m customizing Windows less and less. I want to know what normal PC users see. I want to know how Windows feels out of the box.

Sometimes, I tell people how to turn off the ads in Windows — but I don’t turn them off on my own PCs. I leave them on just so I can see what happens. How much will Microsoft fill my Start menu with junk? Will I wake up one day and find a Candy Crush shortcut? I need to know! I’m my own Guinea pig.

So, without further adieu, let’s get right to it:

PC hardware

I use both a desktop PC and a laptop. My desktop PC is powerful and my laptop is portable. It’s a good setup.

I use a Surface Laptop with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chip and 16 GB of RAM as my main PC. This is the original $999 model that Microsoft discontinued. I get great battery life and good desktop performance on the go.

At my desk, I have a gaming PC with an AMD Ryzen 9 9900X CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU. That GPU is essential for experimenting with local AI tools.

I use a Samsung Odyssey G80SD monitor. It’s an OLED panel, but it’s matte rathe than glossy. That’s hard to find, and it helps deal with the sunlight that comes in through the windows — while offering a nice OLED panel. I think it’s a great compromise.

I use a mechanical keyboard at my desk, too — I enjoy the typing action on a mechanical keyboard. Right now, I’m using a Glorious GMMK keyboard right now, but I know those are controversial! I found it on sale for a screaming good deal and couldn’t resist.

I’ve got a lot of other hardware lying around, too: A Steam Deck, Raspberry Pi, Chromebook, and various other laptops, including a Windows 10 laptop when I need to test something on Windows 10.

In my living room, I have a PC hooked up to my TV — and while I have a Chromecast and Roku TV, I love being able to use a PC on

Windows software

Windows 11 is my main desktop operating system, of course. I use the Brave browser as my main browser, although I also use Chrome — I have both of them pinned to my taskbar right now. 1Password is my preferred password manager.

For productivity apps, I stick with the Microsoft 365 apps: I use OneNote, Word, and Excel quite a bit. I have a Microsoft 365 subscription, and I store files in the 1TB cloud storage that comes with Microsoft 365. Microsoft To Do is also an excellent task management and grocery-list-tracking app for me. (I’ve been putting off diving into Obsidian for note taking!)

For communications, however, I prefer Google’s apps. I use Gmail and Google Calendar rather than Outlook. I find myself participating in Slack and Google Chat conversations and rarely use Microsoft Teams.

My image-editing needs are basic, and I still use Paint.NET to this day. It’s the image-editing tool I started out working with when I began writing online. (I once paid for Photoshop, but I found it overkill for my needs.) And, these days, I find the Snipping Tool built into Windows 11 works well for screenshots and screen capture.

Spotify is my preferred music-streaming service — I’m a big fan of the live show recommendations based on recent listening. They get me out of the house and nudge me to events I would have missed. I still love VLC for playing local video files. And I prefer buying PC games on Steam when I have time for them.

As far as customizing Windows, I try to keep things lightweight so I’m having an experience like the one most people have. I like Stardock’s Start11 for a better Start menu and the free ExplorerPatcher app for taskbar tweaking, and I’ve used both on and off and would recommend them. I’m also a huge fan of Microsoft PowerToys.

As I’ve mentioned, I have a hard time recommending Windows apps these days for security reasons.

Phones and other mobile gadgets

I use a Samsung Galaxy Z6 Fold as my main phone. (I got it for half off!) I’m a huge fan of the foldable phone experience — I don’t use a tablet. Instead, I can fold out my phone for a larger screen, anywhere. I think foldables will be big in the future. This particular model is getting a little long in the tooth — it’s not the latest one — but it still works well for me. I’ve also got an older iPhone and Google Pixel phone around here somewhere.

For phone service, I use US Mobile. It’s met my needs, and it’s a much better value than T-Mobile, which I used before.

I’ve gone back and forth between wearing smartwatches and a classic analog watch. Right now, the analog watch is winning.

For books, my favorite eReader is a Kindle Paperwhite — but I don’t use it much. I’m really enjoying reading books printed on traditional paper these days. It’s a good break from using electronics all day for work!

Smart Home tech

I’ve been pretty restrained on smart home gear. I’m a fan of smart thermostats: I use Ecobee hardware with wireless SmartSensors to better measure the temperature elsewhere in my home — not just at the thermostat itself. I’m convinced smart thermostats save me real money on heating and cooling thanks to features like automatically adjusting the temperature when no one is home.

I was using Arlo cameras to keep an eye on package deliveries and other things going on outside, but with the huge subscription price increases, I’m in the middle of attempting a switch to Eufy cameras. (I know there are some concerns about this brand, but I’m not super concerned about someone seeing a live feed of my driveway in a worst-case scenario.)

I’ve dabbled with a lot of other smart home gadgets — from lights to radon detectors to bird feeders — but smart thermostats and security cameras are my most important gadgets. I don’t use smart speakers these days. (However, I’m using a first-generation Google Home speaker as a wireless Bluetooth speaker — microphone muted.)

What else do I use? Feel free to ask!

While these are the hardware devices and software tools I find myself using all the time at the start of 2026, they’re of course just a few of the things I’ve used over the years.

If you’re interested in what else I’ve used or you want any recommendations, just ask in the comments below! I’ll try to get you a useful answer from my experience.

This week’s latest from Thurrott.com

But before we get to the comments, let’s talk about what’s new on Thurrott.com.

Microsoft is reportedly working on letting Windows 11 users move the taskbar — that’s huge news! When Microsoft removed this feature at the launch of Windows 11, people spent years asking for it — and Microsoft ignored the feedback. It’s a very visible change of Microsoft’s attitude towards feedback around Windows.

Meanwhile, Windows 11 now has a command-line interface for the Store. And Windows 11’s 26H1 update is looking confusing.

But, for paid Thurrott Premium subscribers, my favorite piece this week was Paul’s look at Microsoft’s shift in attitude toward Windows. There’s change in the air — and it’s looking promising.

⬇️ Okay — now feel free to ask any questions you have! I’ll try to recommend good, useful tech.

• Microsoft engineers are reportedly scrambling to fix real problems in Windows and address “pain points.”

• Internally, Microsoft is looking at scaling back Copilot branding and other AI features throughout Windows — at least according to one report.

• Social media is full of people saying they’re switching to Linux. And the threat is more credible than it used to be: Even PC gaming works pretty well on Linux, thanks to Valve.

But here’s one more true statement:

• Windows 11 reached one billion PCs faster than Windows 10 did. (!)

How can that be? I’ll answer it by getting into my unwritten history with Linux…

PC users have a love-hate relationship with Windows

Windows PC users are often not big fans of the operating system. We like PCs, we like the software ecosystem, and we may even like the desktop interface (I do!), but we don’t necessarily like what Microsoft is doing.

We didn’t love when Windows 8’s Metro interface arrived and the Start button vanished. We don’t love the ads everywhere in Windows. We don’t like being forced to use OneDrive unless we carefully follow a complicated process to extract our files from it. We didn’t love when Copilot began popping up everywhere and Microsoft said Windows would be an agentic OS for AI agents going forward.

This is a big difference from Apple users! Mac users tend to be excited for new versions of macOS. Windows users often groan — what is Microsoft doing this time? Even people who love Microsoft’s plans wish there was a better follow through. If you loved Metro and live tiles — or you’re a huge fan of Windows 11’s current design and wish it applied to the entire interface — you’re bound to be disappointed.

15+ years ago, I started out writing as a Linux user

Here’s a secret many people don’t know, considering how closely I’ve been covering Windows for so many years:

When I was a kid, I got started using computers with MS-DOS and then Windows 3.1. I spent many years cutting my proverbial teeth on Windows. But, in my teenage years — when the reviled Windows Millennium Edition kept crashing my PC — I started exploring Linux.

My friend handed me some Mandrake Linux installer discs, and I was off to the races. I used a wide variety of Linux distributions over the years: Fedora, SuSE, Arch, and even Gentoo. (Don’t get me started on how Gentoo Linux users used to compile all their own software for supposed performance optimizations! Yes, I did it too. It was trendy!)

I dual-booted Windows for many years, but I focused on Linux. When I started writing online, one thing immediately became clear: Windows had a much larger audience. So, while I covered Linux, too, I refocused on Windows.

But I still covered Linux! I wrote both Windows and Linux content for How-To Geek. And, back in 2014, I founded PCWorld’s World Beyond Windows column to cover Linux, ChromeOS, SteamOS, and alternative PC operating systems.

Linux content never performed as well as Windows content, but there was an appetite for technical content that helped people with command-line software. There was also an appetite for Linux-focused editorials and news for Linux users.

👀 Here’s another secret that my boss at How-To Geek once told me, many years ago: Traffic-wise, most of those Linux articles were read by Windows users.

Yes, if you go look at the stats for pieces focused on Linux news and open-source advocacy, people may be clicking them — but they’re not necessarily using the operating system.

Gradually, I started covering Linux less and less. I love Linux, and I’m excited about the future there (especially thanks to Valve and SteamOS), but I also know that people want Windows content. (And I love Windows, too!)

Okay, back to 2026

If you believe the mood on social media, 2026 will be the long-prophesied the year of the Linux desktop. People aren’t buying Windows 11 PCs, and Windows is old hat.

But, if you actually look at the stats, that’s not true at all. Windows 11 is growing faster than Windows 10 did.

It’s easy to complain about Windows on social media. It’s easy to say you’re switching to Linux and get upvotes. It’s easy to write “I’m switching to Linux” editorials.

But a lot of the people writing those comments, upvoting them, and reading the articles are using Windows — not Linux.

I get it. But that’s why Windows is still on top.

2026 is the year of the Linux desktop, even if it’s still niche

When I started using Linux, I had to manually enter IRQ numbers to get my hardware devices working. I had to get a sound card with hardware mixing so Adobe Flash content worked properly. I couldn’t watch the Olympics because it required Microsoft Silverlight. I couldn’t stream Netflix. Linux users played Tux Racer unironically.

Now, Linux mostly just works. You can install popular web browsers, and you can won’t encounter major problems. Many applications offer convenient web-based versions. Thanks to Valve’s SteamOS, Linux has even become a great place for PC gaming — without much extra configuration.

Linux is even the operating system of choice for serious local AI tasks, if you want to dabble with anything beyond LLM inference on your own hardware.

I could say so many other good things about this free and open-source operating system. I’m so happy it’s this mature. Linux is an amazing state, but there’s not a horde of people switching — because Windows is fine.

Why Windows 11 is fine, actually

Honestly, using Windows often feels like being locked in a battle with Microsoft’s marketing department — no thanks, I don’t want MSN News articles on my New Tab page, advertising everywhere, Copilot on my taskbar, Bing in my Start menu, all my files hoovered up into OneDrive, and so on.

But, if you decide to opt out, you can start turning it off. Once I get a Windows 11 PC set up the way I like it, it doesn’t bother me too much. I get to use the world’s most popular desktop software platform with the best support for whatever PC hardware I want to use.

I wish Windows was less obnoxious out of the box. PC users shouldn’t feel this negatively about it. (I just wrote a piece about what I wish Microsoft would fix over at PCMag.)

But, once you actually configure it, Windows is fine.

The latest from Thurrott.com

For Thurrott Premium subscribers, Paul’s “Making Windows 11 Suck Less in 2026” article is an excellent read that dives deep into what’s going on with Windows 11 right now.

Beyond that, AMD said the next Xbox may launch in 2027. In open-source news, LibreOffice 26.2 just arrived. Check out Thurrott.com for more!

I’ll cut through the hype and explain how disk encryption works on Windows 11, why the viral headlines are somewhat misleading, and why Microsoft’s PR response is also misleading.

Yes, BitLocker is uploading your keys (usually)

When you set up a new Windows 11 PC, it has something called “Device encryption.” After you sign in with a Microsoft account, Windows automatically encrypts your PC’s storage. Windows uploads a recovery key to your Microsoft account, and you can access it online.

This has some big benefits. If you forget your password, you can always access the recovery key from your Microsoft account. Let’s face it: Many Windows users would not store recovery keys and would lose access to their files.

But this also means anyone with access to the data in your Microsoft account can access your recovery key. And, when the government comes along with a warrant, Microsoft complies and hands keys over.

It’s worth noting that this key only helps if someone has physical access to the computer. So, in this case, the government (or a thief) needs both physical access to the drive and the recovery key to access the files.

You have to pay extra to not upload your keys

If you want to encrypt your Windows PC’s storage without uploading a recovery key to Microsoft, you could pay extra to upgrade to Windows 11 Professional.

Then, you can switch to the full BitLocker Drive Encryption feature, which lets you choose to print a recovery key or store it in another way. You don’t have to upload your key to Microsoft.

For a deeper dive into BitLocker, here’s a piece I wrote for PCWorld.

Should you care?

Here’s the funny and unfortunate thing: Prior to Device Encryption, Windows PCs had unencrypted storage out of the box. Anyone could steal a laptop and see the files on it.

The shift to Device Encryption, which meant that only the government could access the contents of the drive, and only with a warrant, is a big security upgrade!

Personally, I use a mix of both Device Encryption on some of my PCs and BitLocker Drive Encryption on others. I don’t go out of my way to pay extra for Windows 11 Professional on each PC I use.

This does mean that the government could get my files after confiscating my PC and getting a warrant. But they wouldn’t find anything interesting.

Whether you want to switch to BitLocker is up to you! But it does cost extra.

Also: The reality is that many Windows PC users avoid setting up BitLocker, preferring to use unencrypted storage to squeeze some more performance out of their desktop PCs.

If you were counting on Windows encrypting your data securely such that the government wouldn’t be able to access it with a warrant after confiscating your PC, Windows doesn’t offer that without some extra configuration.

But it is true that Apple and Google choose to store keys in a way that governments can’t access them with a warrant. Microsoft made a different philosophical decision here. That’s the real story — not that you should be personally concerned about your data.

But why can’t Microsoft PR just be honest?

I can’t stop thinking about a statement put out by Microsoft spokesperson Charles Chamberlayne. He’s also the founder of a “crisis communication agency” named Chamberlayne, Inc.

Their website pitches corporations on the threat of “news media reporters” during a crisis:

“We recognize that many news media reporters, government officials, political organizations and other individuals may attempt to use these unfortunate situations to create an opportunity for themselves.”

The Verge’s reporting has an interesting quote from Chamberlayne:

“Customers can choose to store their encryption keys locally… We recognize that some customers prefer Microsoft’s cloud storage”

I suppose I’m supposed to let statements like this pass by unchallenged. But this is textbook gaslighting.

People are not choosing to store their recovery keys on Microsoft’s servers because they “prefer it”!

This is how the vast majority of Windows PCs work out of the box. Most people don’t even know it. They’re not “preferring” Microsoft’s cloud storage.

Here’s something else Chamberlayne told Forbes:

“Microsoft believes customers are in the best position to decide... how to manage their keys.”

That’s a strange argument to put forward when PC users have to pay extra to make a different decision. Most people are not making a “decision” to store their key with Microsoft. It’s the unquestioned default.

Here’s what Microsoft’s crisis communication team should have said:

“PCs running Windows 11 Home edition store recovery keys on Microsoft’s servers to allow PC users to easily recover their files. PC users can upgrade to Windows 11 Professional and choose to store their own recovery keys. We only release recovery keys when presented with a warrant, as we’re legally obligated to.”

That would have been honest! It’s a fine, defensible statement. It’s how Windows actually works.

Why didn’t Microsoft PR say that? Why did Microsoft pretend there’s no financial cost to keeping your own BitLocker recovery key? Why is this story such a mess?

I really don’t know. But I wish we could all be honest.

Anyway, Microsoft has my recovery keys

The world these days seems to run on outrage and strong statements without nuance.

“Microsoft is handing over your encryption keys to the government!” (*with a warrant)

“We respect PC users who might prefer to keep their keys on our servers!” (*even though most PC users have no clue how this works)

Nuance doesn’t sell. No one’s going to click a story that says “Microsoft will hand over your encryption keys to the government with a warrant, but it’s probably fine, and you can pay extra if you’re concerned. And you may be the kind of PC user that isn’t even encrypting your storage in the first place.”

I’m publishing that story anyway. Someone has to. But this piece will never go viral on Google Discover!

What’s new at Thurrott.com

Microsoft announced its revenues were up, but that didn’t stop the company’s stock from plunging 10% on Thursday. Paul has a detailed writeup about Microsoft’s earnings for Thurrott Premium members. Investors seem concerned Microsoft’s AI spending is out of control.

But the big story is Windows 11 reaching over one billion users — faster than Windows 10 did? That’s surprising, considering more PCs could upgrade to Windows 10 than Windows 11 did! Despite the negative energy around Windows 11 and its “enshittification” online, people are still buying and using the operating system.

We’ve all using adblockers now — everyone using Google Chrome is just using Google’s vision of an adblocker. But you might have your own opinion about what constitutes a “poor experience.”

When I explained why Brave is my favorite Windows web browser, I wrote:

This isn’t an ethical argument about adblocking — not this week. I tried to avoid adblocking for a long time. Eventually, at How-To Geek, my boss had to turn the advertising dial up to keep people employed as ad rates declined. The “ad load” — the number of ads on the site and their resource usage — eventually became so heavy that I had to use an adblocker to get work done. If I had 20-30 How-To Geek tabs open, my laptop’s fans would be whirring away. I’m sorry we had to do that.

So I suppose this week is the time for an ethical argument about adblocking! This week, the newsletter is going to feel like my personal journal, including:

• My favorite recommended adblockers.

• Why I wish all my readers had blocked How-To Geek’s ads a decade ago.

• What happens when I ask myself how I can justify blocking ads.

Let’s see how it goes!

The best adblockers for Windows PCs

On Windows, I prefer using an adblocker that integrates with your web browser. For me, the top picks are simple:

• Brave’s built-in adblocker — also known as Brave Shields — is speedy and built in. You can configure it, but you don’t have to.

• The classic uBlock Origin extension is available in Firefox and Brave, if you want it. This is the best adblocker.

• The new uBlock Origin Lite extension runs in Chrome, Edge, and other Chromium-based browsers. It’s a new version of uBlock Origin Lite designed to play in Google’s Manifest v3 requirements, which restrict what browser extensions can do.

Sometimes, adblockers break things. This doesn’t happen too often, but it does tend to happen most often on financial and shopping websites. If something doesn’t work, turn off your adblocker on that site — you can do it with a few clicks from your browser’s toolbar.

Why I wish you had blocked How-To Geek’s ads a decade ago

The web was designed without any built-in payment schemes — those came later. When all the content online had to be free, there was only one way to fund it: Advertising.

That’s why websites went for more and more ads. A media organization might be paid only half a penny when you clicked its link — but that was something. Google was both the biggest advertising company that would help you monetize your website, and a search engine that would bring readers — and their clicks — to it.

Focusing on ads meant serving advertisers and ad companies instead of readers. It meant we couldn’t write about YouTube downloaders, for example — Google would remove advertisements from people’s websites if they did that. It meant that the best kind of content was the kind with the best ads.

In How-To Geek’s final years as an independent publication before it was sold, “commerce content” — pieces with “buying intent” — were the priority ahead of the Windows and troubleshooting content that people turned to How-To Geek for. In the end as Editor-in-Chief, I was building up a commerce strategy to get the right type of ads rather than delivering what readers historically loved about How-To Geek.

It all followed from the economics of the game. But I wish the web hadn’t been so focused on ads. If everyone had blocked them — or ads were never created — How-To Geek would’ve been different. I always wanted to set up a way for readers to support us directly and not see any ads, but we never did it. I wish How-To Geek had become that kind of publication — one that served readers directly, not advertisers.

I wish the entire online media ecosystem was like that.

On the other hand, maybe the entire media ecosystem would have collapsed without ads! What do I know? 🙂

The security argument for adblockers

By the way: Computer security expert SwiftOnSecurity has been pointing out the advantages of adblocking for years. Websites are full of fake “download” buttons and other harmful things. An organization deploying adblockers across their network is often lowering support costs and boosting security.

In my experience, tech journalists try not to talk about adblockers too much, even though there are strong arguments for using them.

“People can use them if they want, but we shouldn’t encourage people to go find them.” That was my philosophy when I ran How-To Geek — recommending adblockers to readers might have meant laying off my team members. Ouch.

The future of media isn’t a better ad

Blocking ads hurts websites. There’s no way around it. When your browser doesn’t load an ad, the publisher doesn’t get that ad view.

It’s become less trendy for websites to block visitors who use adblockers. Instead, there are other revenue streams: Sponsored articles, for example, and affiliate content that uses affiliate links to deliver small commissions when you buy something. And many publications now ask you to pay to subscribe.

So how do I justify using an adblocker while the media industry still — against all odds — pays my bills?

I’m not sure I can. That’s the tragedy of the commons, right? My adblocking makes a tiny difference at the margins: My browser performs faster, my laptop has more battery life, I see fewer fake download buttons, and my web experience calms down and becomes less flashy.

In return, the websites I visit lose a few pennies. Feels like a fair trade, right? Repeat this over and over and that’s how you end up where we are.

Anyway. The future of online media won’t involve the end of adblockers. It’ll have less of a focus on programmatically loaded advertisements.

After all: The AI models increasingly reading and summarizing written content online aren’t loading ads, either!

What’s new at Thurrott.com

Paul Thurrott doesn’t show ads to his Thurrott Premium subscribers — that’s exactly the kind of experience I wish I had been able to offer at How-To Geek.

Notepad is continuing its transformation into a Copilot-powered Markdown text editor. Microsoft is bringing Xbox Game Pass games to Arm PCs, too. And, for Thurrott Premium subscribers, Paul has a look at a significant update to OneDrive’s file-grabbing behavior.

👋 Until next time!

🛠️ Many readers say they want more tips for battling Windows annoyances, so that’s what this issue is all about! This is a trick I’ve used for many years, but I rarely see it discussed online. You don’t have to switch to a third-party Start menu like Start11 just to get rid of Bing.

The fix involves a quick registry tweak, and it works on both Windows 11 and Windows 10. Here’s how to do it:

First, launch the registry editor. You can do this by pressing the Windows key, typing Registry, and clicking “Registry Editor.” (Just don’t click any Bing search results!)

⚠️ Be careful when fiddling with the Windows Registry, as you could cause problems with your PC. Follow the instructions exactly as written here and you’ll be fine.

Then, copy-paste the following line into the address bar at the top of the Registry Editor window and press Enter:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\

Look under Windows in the left pane. If you see an “Explorer” key (folder), click it. If not, right-click the “Windows” key, point to “New,” and select “Key.”

Name it Explorer.

With the Explorer key selected in the left pane, right-click in the right pane. Select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Name it DisableSearchBoxSuggestions.

Finally, double-click the DisableSearchBoxSuggestions value, set it to “1”, and click “OK.”

Your change will take effect when Explorer.exe restarts. You could restart your computer or sign out and sign back in. Or, you can do it from the Task Manager.

First, open the Task Manager. I like pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open it.

Then, locate “Windows Explorer” in the Processes list, right-click it, and select “Restart.”

And that’s it! Your Start menu is now gloriously free of Bing search results.

This has worked since the days of Windows 10, and it still works on Windows 11 today in 2026.

🏜️ This particular issue was a very normal, very helpful tip! If you want to read about my wanderings through the desert at CES, that’s available as a thank-you for people who donate a few bucks toward paying my bills.

“Oh, you don’t believe me? Bing It!”

As Microsoft’s first digital companion once said:

Sydney had to be Bing search, but your Start menu doesn’t.

⚡ Looking for more CES-related thoughts from me? Take a look at my impressions of PC pricing chaos from my conversations at CES — or the bizarre situation around Copilot+ PCs now that “every PC is an AI PC.”

What’s new at Thurrott.com

Microsoft is detailing its plans to build “community-first” AI data centers, and Meta is making cuts to its VR and metaverse divisions. And Thurrott.com is getting some changes.

For Thurrott Premium subscribers, Paul analyzes Intel’s Panther Lake hardware announcements and argues Dell is wrong about AI PCs.

As always, thanks for reading!

CES and Las Vegas are the perfect match for each other. Of course Nvidia — the most valuable company in …

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My first time at CES, slipping into parties like this was a new experience. I felt like I “made it,” like I was important. Going from writing about PCs on your computer to being someone important enough to schmooze in Vegas is quite a shift. But I never really got much out of these parties.

These days, it’s fun walking around with my CES badge saying “The Windows ReadMe” — my own newsletter, not even the name of a bigger publication I write for — and slipping below the radar. It’s fun getting into the night club, ordering a single drink, deciding it’s not interesting, and leaving in five minutes.

✈️ I’ll be back with something a little more software-centric next week, after I make the journey east out of the desert. This week, the newsletter is about CES.

Human connection in the AI desert

Being back in Vegas for CES 2026 is weird. I did get to see many faces I haven’t seen in three years — and some I haven’t seen in six years! Many of the people who I used to see every year here no longer attend. Many of the talented people I used to work with have left the industry for PR, marketing, or other roles. And I’m one of just a handful of independent freelancers I know here — most people I know are in staff roles.

I’ve had so many great face-to-face conversations with so many people. A big thanks to the PCWorld team in particular! Their live blog is fun, and it reminds me of what we used to do at How-To Geek.

As someone who’s back to freelancing, Jared Newman (check out his Advisorator and Cord Cutter Weekly newsletters) and Matthew S. Smith (here’s a video interview I did with him) are inspirations to me.

This week, I found myself discussing how much readers have enjoyed shorter newsletters. Ed Zitron was sitting next to me and, I believe, joked that he also tries to keep his newsletters short. CES is the place where a moment like that happens. The night club isn’t the point.

AI soulmates (or: how I sacrificed thousands of dollars)

If there’s a theme of CES this year, it’s AI — obviously. As I said to someone: “Everything is AI, even the things that aren’t AI.”

Beyond generative AI, there are a lot of robots here. Not all of them work very well. Many of them don’t seem to work well at all. But there’s more robotics energy than there used to be.

AI companies are eager to sell you products to replace human connection, too. Dipal wants to sell you “your soulmate” as a product. I don’t think your soulmate should be a product or subscription you buy, but tech companies would love for you to think otherwise.

This is something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. Over the holidays, I walked away from an introduction to AI for a well-known print publication, giving up months of work and thousands of dollars. That publication wanted people to start by thinking of AI chatbots as something akin to a “friend.” But I don’t think your friend should be a software service sold to you by a company. Luckily, there was still time to withdraw from the assignment and prevent them from publishing any of my words.

Losing a magazine cover story stings, and lighting thousands of dollars on fire for ethical principles is tough. But I talked to the people at the Dipal booth, and they didn’t seem to understand why I was concerned about them calling an AI product “your soulmate.” That confirmed to me I made the right decision.

While I’ll write about AI, I won’t present it as your friend or soulmate. It doesn’t matter how many thousands of dollars someone offers to pay me.

What’s new for PC hardware

But let’s talk about the tech, too. First of all, CES is super hardware focused. Microsoft does not have any Windows announcements here. For the most part, it’s all about new hardware. I want to give you a list of the most relevant, PC-focused stuff you can check out if you’re interested!

🤖 Nvidia has some new software features. Nvidia didn’t have any new graphics hardware to announce, but it did launch DLSS 4.5. For gamers, the new technology promises improved performance and better image quality on existing graphics cards. My colleagues at PCWorld have great writeups of DLSS 4.5, how Nvidia is pursuing neural rendering in the future, and the G-Sync Pulsar tech for esports-focused gaming monitors.

💧 Intel announced Core Ultra (Series 3) chips — this is the hardware codenamed “Panther Lake.” It feels like Intel is “getting is mojo back” — that’s at least how the hype feels. Panther Lake corrects some of the worst sins of Lunar Lake: Intel now manufacturers these chips itself, and they should have much better multithreaded performance. Here’s a deeper dive. Intel is even showing off integrated graphics that rivals discrete graphics. I also like how Intel is simplifying the CPU names.

🔥 AMD has Ryzen AI 400 series processors — including some desktop models, bringing Windows Copilot+ PC AI features to desktop PCs, if you care — and new Ryzen AI Max+ CPUs. Improvements to ROCm, AMD’s answer to Nvidia’s CUDA, sound like a big deal for GPU-based compute tasks, including local AI.

🐉 Qualcomm already announced Snapdragon X2 Elite chips earlier this year, and lots of PC manufacturers are showing off Snapdragon X2-powered machines already. Qualcomm announced Snapdragon X2 Plus hardware for more affordable machines.

I could talk about PC makers, too. There are a lot of swanky laptop designs with dual screens, impressively light materials, and long battery life thanks to the new hardware. They do feel good in my hands.

If I think back to what the PC market was like a decade ago, it’s really impressive how good the laptops are now. Every bit of the experience — display, performance, build quality, battery life, and so on — has improved by leaps and bounds. It’s helpful to keep that perspective. It’s unclear when all these new designs will hit the market or how expensive they’ll be, but that’s something for the future.

I will say it’s basically impossible to test any laptop or hardware here in person. At most, I can hold a device in my hands and get a sense of how the materials and build feels. I can’t test how laptops behave in real-world performance tests. I can’t even tell you how their displays look — the lighting is weird.

The tech industry as a whole feels weird. There’s optimism despite the ambient background dread, but the dread is real. There’s a lot of excitement about the new hardware and technology. There’s also a lot of confusion about RAM prices and what they mean for these designs, price-wise. Tariffs are another factor, although no one is talking about them. And if China invades Taiwan, this all seizes up.

🏜️ Anyway, CES 2026 was a beautiful mirage in the desert full of awesome people, often-impressive hardware, AI products that went too far, hollow night club parties, and a media industry that still — despite everything that’s happened over the years — is paying my bills. And that’s enough.

Thanks for reading this, and I’ll be back at you with Windows again next week. I’ve also got another piece I plan on writing for paying supporters in the coming days — stay tuned!

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This year I’m experimenting with direct reader-to-journalist journalism: What do you want me to go check out this week? What are you interested in?

If you want to know more about something or you have any questions I can answer, leave…

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I already know secrets I can’t share

CES is weird. Publications often write headlines like “here’s what we expect from CES 2026.” That’s difficult for me to write, because journalists like myself have embargos. In other words: I already know some of the things that will be announced at CES, but I’m supposed to keep it confidential. That gives us a chance to write news coverage ahead of time.

I can’t tell you these secrets just yet because PC manufacturers would stop sharing details with me in the future. I can share the details when the information is public and available all over the web. So I can’t deliver any scoops.

As a journalist, I have to get vague about my predictions: New PC hardware will be big, as always. Everyone will want to talk about AI.

As far as Windows and PCs, it’s all about new hardware and not software: New processors from AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm will make their way into PCs. Nvidia will likely be talking more about AI than gaming. There will be a lot of new hardware and gadgets.

Pricing may unfortunately be high — with RAM prices skyrocketing and PC prices already up after the waves of tariffs, expect next year’s laptops to cost more than last year’s models.

As far as value in PC hardware? Clearance sales on last year’s models, keeping your existing hardware working, and maybe even turning to used PCs might be the future. Maybe people will one day buy used PCs as often as they buy used phones.

Want eyes at CES 2026? I’ll be them!

One thing I do want to do is see whether I can deliver that direct journalist-to-reader experience with CES 2026. I’ll put up a thread for my paying subscribers in a few days with some thoughts. Want to ask me a question? Or, do you want to check out something in particular — maybe something you saw a cool news article about? I’ll do my best to make it happen!

(This is a dangerous game I’m playing — Las Vegas is huge, traffic is bad, and it can take hours to get from one location to another to check something out. But I bet I’ll be able to answer questions and share interesting things! We’ll figure it out.)

If you’re interested, spend a few bucks to help pay my travel costs — I’m paying for the hotel, flights, and everything else out of pocket — and stay tuned for more!

If you’re already a paying subscriber: Thank you!

🎆 Happy New Year! Stay tuned for more PC hardware from CES next week. And stay tuned for more Windows after that.

I’d also like to ask: What is The Windows ReadMe, anyway? And what will it be in the future? I have some ideas — but I’d also like your input!

A brief history of The Windows ReadMe

I’ve always believed in direct journalistic honesty. …

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These days, Reddit is a huge property that functions more like a mass-market social media network. And, for all the interesting things you can sometimes find there, Reddit is full of stealthy manipul…

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🚨 But maybe I shouldn’t call them malware! The lawyers might be along to send a legal threat soon. After all, millions of people agreed to this in the fine print, right? More on the absurdity of what we call “malware” in a moment.

The extensions in question were “privacy” extensions like Urban VPN Proxy. They were apparently capturing users’ conversations in AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot and uploading them.

Google isn’t the only company distributing sketchy software on a supposedly trustworthy store. Even Valve’s Steam PC game store has dealt with malware in PC games recently. When it’s discovered, it’s removed from the store. But there’s really no way to fully verify apps on an app store are safe. Even Apple’s vaunted App Store has hosted malicious apps.

Maybe it’s better we stop pretending that applications hosted on an app store are always safe.

But is this malware? Here come the lawyers!

I’m sick of dancing around whether badly behaved software is “technically malware” or not!

There’s a term that goes around: “Potentially unwanted programs.” These are basically malware with a legal team. There’s a user agreement someone can point to to defend the behavior of their software. How can this software spying on your private chats be malware? You consented — right there in 4-point font on page 425b!

That’s why people frequently avoid calling things like this malware. Lawyers may be along to send a cease and desist! But, as far as I’m concerned, a browser extension that captures users’ AI conversations and sells them to advertisers without clear disclosure is malware.

If a plumber visited you and installed a device in your bathroom that spied on you and sold your data to advertisers, we’d call that malicious. We wouldn’t let the plumber argue that you technically gave them permission to install a camera and spy on you somewhere in a long contract.

Similarly, browser extensions like this are malware. Full stop.

(Hopefully I won’t be sued for saying this.)

“Featured” malware, really?

“App stores” like the Chrome Web Store — which is an app store for browser extensions, basically — are supposed to be safer than just downloading random apps from the web. That’s the whole pitch. But there’s no guarantee.

To help identify trustworthy Chrome extensions, Google has a “Featured” badge. As Google puts it:

“The Featured badge is assigned to extensions that follow our technical best practices and meet a high standard of user experience and design. Chrome team members manually evaluate each extension before it receives the badge, paying special attention to the following:

Adherence to Chrome Web Store’s best practices guidelines, including… respecting the privacy of end-users.”

Ouch. This means that Google’s human review process either isn’t good enough to spot malware or it doesn’t really exist in the way we’d like to believe it does.

This reminds me of Microsoft’s Store app back in the Windows 8 days. In 2014, I wrote up how it was full of scams. For example, Microsoft was hosting numerous apps like “VLC downloader” that charged you money to link you to a download for a free app. Per Microsoft’s documentation at the time, a human reviewed each and every app that went on Windows 8’s Store. Either Microsoft wasn’t actually having humans review the apps, or its process was so sloppy that the review process was worthless.

Were humans actually reviewing apps before they went on the Windows 8 Store? I never got an answer to that question! We’ll never know.

Either way, Google has gone out of its way to create a badge that promises security, but doesn’t offer it. It would be better if Google shrugged.

For example, Valve’s Steam store has an automated review process to catch malware. Valve doesn’t promise certain games are human reviewed or that they should be more secure. Google does.

Staying safe with Chrome extensions

Most browser extensions need a lot of permissions — they often need full access to the pages you visit and your browser history. This gives them access to everything you do in your browser. Assuming a browser extensions asks for this many permissions when you install it from the Chrome Web Store, Edge Add-ons Gallery, or Mozilla Add-ons site, you’re placing an incredible amount of trust in the developer.

Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers — Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Opera, and the rest of the usual suspects — let you take control over extension permissions. You can head into your web browser’s Extensions page and, under a particular extension, force it to run only on certain websites instead of all websites. That can be an okay way to boost security. But honestly? If you don’t trust an extension, you probably shouldn’t have it installed at all.

Personally: I use Brave as my main browser, and I have 1Password installed as my password manager. That’s it. If I were using Chrome, I’d install the uBlock Origin Lite adblocker. That’s how paranoid I am about browser extensions.

That’s my advice! But the most important thing is that you should think carefully about each extension you install. Don’t trust something just because it’s “featured” by Google or is popular.

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The latest from Thurrott.com

As always, I’m happy to turn my eye to Paul Thurrott’s work and recommend some reading material from Thurrott.com.

Speaking of app stores: ChatGPT is getting an app store! Also, Mozilla has a new CEO.

More importantly, Half-Life 3 may finally arrive soon. And, for Thurrott Premium subscribers, Paul a great deep-dive into the gaming experience with Arm-based Snapdragon PCs running Windows 11.

🎄 And one last thing: The holidays are upon us! They really snuck up on me this year. I hope you and yours have an awesome holiday season.

Today’s passkeys aren’t what the industry originally pitched them as — not in my opinion, anyway. Originally, passkeys were device-specific. You’d bind a unique authentication token to a device like a PC or phone. That device would become your sign-in method, so you wouldn’t need a password. This was how I originally understood the promise of passkeys.

In other words: If you installed a passkey on your laptop, that laptop would then become your authentication device. The passkey wouldn’t leave your laptop.

This didn’t catch on for the masses. So the FIDO Alliance — the organization behind passkeys — now offers both device-specific passkeys and syncing passkeys. In other words, passkeys on Windows can now sync between your PCs and other devices. You can store them in 1Password, Bitwarden, or other password managers in the future.

I just turned this on. You might want to try it, too.

Set up passkey sync on Windows 11

Want to sync passkeys across your Windows 11 PCs and other devices? Here’s how to set it up.

• First, ensure your PC has the latest Windows Updates. Head to Settings > Windows Update on your Windows 11 PC to get them.

• Second, ensure you’re using the right password manager. If you’re using passkeys in 1Password, you’ll have to install it with the MSIX installer. With Bitwarden, you’ll need a beta version of Bitwarden.

• Third, you’ll have to activate the passkey provider on the system level. Head to Settings > Accounts > Passkeys > Advanced options and activate your password manager of choice as a passkey manager.

Now, when Windows pops up to save a passkey, it will save the passkey to your password manager of choice. It’ll sync between your devices, and you can use it to sign into the account on any PC.

Support for third-party passkey providers is pretty new. As of December 2025, it’s only available in 1Password and a beta version of Bitwarden. And there’s no way to actually export passkeys from 1Password once you’ve saved them — not yet, anyway.

Microsoft now offers synced passkeys in Edge as part of the Microsoft Password Manager, but that’s only for Edge. I’m not a fan of relying on any one web browser’s built-in password manager.

What’s the point of passkeys?

I’ve been reading about passkeys for years — I’m pretty sure I covered them back when I ran How-To Geek, and I’ve read Paul Thurrott write a lot about them. I’ve always been excited about the idea of improving passwords, and passkeys have gone through some twists and turns as they became more usable.

In a nutshell, passkeys bring a sort of “password manager-style” experience to everyone. When you sign into an account that supports passkeys, your device will offer to save a passkey. It will then use that passkey to automatically sign in. This is an attempt to get rid of the “type a password into a box” experience that’s such a security risk for so many people and organizations today.

Passkeys are automatically provided only to the website that created them, so there’s no risk of phishing — they match a specific domain. In some ways, they’re like using a strong, unique password with each account you authenticate with. When you sign in, you authenticate with your device’s biometrics and the key you have. There’s no need for an SMS text message verification code. It’s faster, streamlined, and more secure.

If you already use a password manager with unique passwords and two-factor authentication that syncs between your PCs, you won’t get a huge security upgrade from signing in with passkeys. But, for the average person, the passkey experience promises a much simpler way of authenticating without manually managing a password database, ensuring passwords aren’t re-used, and typing SMS text verification codes.

I love modern password managers, but they’re a kludge. There should be a better way.

Relying on passkeys that sync between devices isn’t necessarily as secure — an attacker who compromised your password database could get your passkeys — but it’s no less secure than relying on a password manager in the first place! Either way, an attacker can get into your accounts. Organizations that want to use passkeys that are locked to specific devices for maximum security can still do so.

There’s a lot more going on with passkeys, and the FIDO Alliance’s official support site offers in-depth documentation of what you need to know. But the industry has been trying to kill passwords for years. And passkeys are the password killer that shows the most promise today. Traditional passwords are a huge weak link in online security.

Passwords are dead; long live passwords

I’m not sure there are statistics out there about passkey adoption on Windows, but I will say the passkey experience hasn’t impressed me over the last few years. I’m probably not the only person who’s found himself saying “no thanks, no passkey for Amazon” each time he signs in.

That’s one reason Microsoft made a push to change the passkey authentication popup flow with Windows 11’s recent 25H2 update. Microsoft’s decision to open operating system-level passkey support to third-party password managers is a big shift for how things work on PCs.

Under the hood, though, accounts still have passwords. You can make a Microsoft account “without a password” and rely solely on passkeys. But, for most people, passkeys are going to be a compliment to a traditional passwords and not a replacement.

Also, it’s almost 2026! By now, I’ve heard about “the death of the password” so many times that even “big steps” like this feel small. It’s still hard to picture the computing industry eliminating the day-to-day use of passwords any time soon.

The latest from Thurrott.com

As always, I’m incredibly gracious to have Paul Thurrott’s endorsement for my newsletter! I respect his work.

I was intrigued to see Amazon making DRM optional for Kindle publishers, and the biggest AI news of the week is no doubt OpenAI releasing GPT 5.2. For Thurrott Premium subscribers, Paul also covered his approach to Smart Home hardware.

👋 Thanks for reading The Windows ReadMe. I hope this was interesting — I’m excited to have a way to write about useful new Windows features like this for people like you. I’ve gotten so many questions about passkeys over the years that I was eager to write this one up. Now let’s hope other password managers start offering Passkey integration on Windows 11, too.

I just reviewed a laptop for PCWorld, and I cringed when I saw it had 8GB of memory. In recent years, 16GB has become standard. But mass-market laptops might be headed back down to 8GB real soon. Maybe we’ll have to learn to expect less from future computers.

RAM prices are spiking so fast that stores are starting to sell RAM at “market prices.” Say goodbye to Crucial RAM, too: Micron is exiting the Crucial RAM business — instead, the company is selling memory to data centers.

⚡ This week’s newsletter is a bulletin about the most important PC story this week.

⚙️ Looking for a RAM-related tip? Try opening the Start menu and searching for “Windows Memory Diagnostic.” Microsoft’s memory-testing tool can test your PC’s memory for hardware problems. Hopefully you don’t need to replace it!

For a more detailed look at how we got here, this piece at Tom’s Hardware, published back in early October, explains what’s going on. As it says, some people are predicting a RAM shortage for the next decade.

SSD prices are increasing, too, but the biggest impact has been on RAM — so far.

PC prices are already going up. CyberPowerPC announced it’s raising prices because RAM prices have increased by 500% and SSD prices have increased by 100%. HP is talking about raising PC prices and reducing RAM configurations.

OpenAI’s Stargate data center project alone may consume 40% of global RAM output. The industry just can’t scale up fast enough to meet demand.

I won’t pretend I know how expensive RAM may get in the coming years — and how the industry will react. It would be nice if prices settled down, but it’s hard to imagine that. Instead, it’s looking more like future PCs may have less RAM at the same price points. It’s more bad news for PC prices in a year of price hikes.

So what can you do? Well, the price shocks haven’t hit the entire market yet. Not every manufacturer has raised prices. There are still some deals to be had.

In the long term, though — who knows. It’s not the best time to buy a laptop right now, with CES a month away and lots of new hardware around the corner. But who knows how expensive those new PCs will be — or how much RAM they’ll have. And this will be a problem beyond PCs, too: For phones, tablets, game consoles, and other gadget.

It’s funny: To take better advantage of local AI, you need lots of memory. But AI data centers for running cloud AI models are driving up the price of RAM. The future may involve more cloud AI and less local AI — if only because computers with enough RAM for local AI may be prohibitively expensive.

News from Thurrott.com

The Windows ReadMe is the official newsletter partner of Thurrott.com, and I’m always proud to share news from Paul Thurrott’s website. So here we go:

The most interesting story of the week to me was Valve bringing Windows games to Linux on ARM PCs. (Valve already runs Windows games on Linux, of course — it’s why the Steam Deck is so popular.)

For Thurrott Premium subscribers, Paul has a great piece about saying no to renting software.

Also: OpenAI is turning over ChatGPT logs, Google is testing deeper AI Mode integration in search, and Microsoft is raising rates for Microsoft 365 Commercial plans.

I switched from T-Mobile to U.S. Mobile this summer, and I’ve had a great experience. More importantly, I slashed my cell phone bill from about $55 per line to $22.50 per line. You could pay even less.

That’s an affiliate link: I’m sharing something I personally use and endorse with you. If you give it a try, I may make a few bucks to help keep The Windows ReadMe going and pay my bills. More importantly, I’m recommending you something I would normally recommend anyway!

Around the time I was leaving The Intelligence, lots of our community members were discussing making the switch to US Mobile.

I’m in the US, so I can’t endorse cellular providers in other countries. But stick around until the end for some thoughts on affiliate content if you’d like to hear more about how the sausage is made.

I was spending too much on my phone bill

I use US Mobile, and it’s the one I have experience with and can personally recommend. I can’t recommend other providers because I don’t use them — I can recommend US Mobile because it’s what I use in my household. But I do think most people need to take a hard look outside the big cellular providers.

I was paying about $55 per line per month to T-Mobile, and that was a grandfathered rate that felt like a bargain. It’s too high. US Mobile charge $22.50 per line for unlimited data, and that’s not even the promotional rate. You can get it even cheaper for the first year if you scoop up the right promotion. Black Friday is a good time to do it — it may be the cheapest promotion of the year, I’m not sure — but US Mobile often runs promotions, from what I’ve seen.

Cellular providers like US Mobile are called MVNOs — Mobile Virtual Network Operators. They resell service from the big cellular carriers. You’re getting access to the big, mainstream cellular networks for less cash.

There are some potential downsides, like data priority, which I haven’t run into. It’s been speedy and fast where I live, and even when visiting some larger cities.

US Mobile reminds me of what Google Fi was supposed to be

I remember watching Google launch Google Fi: It was supposed to be a cellular service that intelligently switched between different cellular networks. Original Google Fi service switched between T-Mobile and Sprint, from what I understand — but now they just use T-Mobile.

US Mobile doesn’t switch on the fly, but US Mobile provides access to multiple big cellular networks through one provider. Don’t like one provider’s network in your area? You can switch in a few clicks on US Mobile’s website. You don’t have to port your number to a new carrier. This is huge — it makes the process of choosing the right network for your geographic area so much more simple.

US Mobile also offers a multi-network feature. For a few bucks extra per month, you could have a phone that switches between multiple big networks to give you the best data connection in challenging situations. I played with this, but I haven’t needed it. Still, it’s a unique feature, and it reminds me so much of what Google Fi was supposed to be.

T-Mobile’s website was a disaster, but I’ve had a great experience with US Mobile’s website. The process of creating a line and switching cellular networks was fast and easy, and the chat support worked fine — in my experience. I was never a fan of T-Mobile’s customer service, and I’d rank US Mobile’s customer service above T-Mobile’s.

Why I recommend US Mobile (for real)

I’m sure I could make more money by shilling some other cellular network. But I’m recommending what I actually use, and what I switched to in the summer.

• I cut my bill from about $660 per year per line to about $270 — and I spent even less the first year. That’s huge to me.

• I can switch between big cellular networks in a few clicks, without porting my number to a new carrier. You can choose what you want to use, and trial out multiple providers.

• It was easy — I did it in a few clicks — and the transfer just took about 15 minutes before my phone number ported over.

So, if you’re interested, give US Mobile a look. (If you use this link, I’ll make a few bucks to help pay my bills.)

The part where I opine about affiliate posts

As I explained when I detailed why I wasn’t going to recommend a paid VPN — I just don’t think most people need one — I plan on sending out a post or two a month like this, on top of the normal newsletters. (This week, it’s a vacation week. This is apparently how I spend my downtime!)

If you don’t want to see the occasional piece like this, you can create a filter in your email client of choice and filter out pieces that have “Support Me” in the subject line. But I promise to be respectful.

It’s weird writing a piece like this. Everything I wrote above is true — I did switch to US Mobile this summer, and there were a lot of people and readers at The Intelligence who made the switch around the time I was leaving that job. I’ve had a great experience — I like US Mobile better than T-Mobile, and it’s way cheaper. I have the most network choice I can get in one cellular provider.

So why do I still feel so weird writing this right now?

When you’re a journalist at a traditional publication, you work with a whole team of people. When I ran How-To Geek as Editor-in-Chief, we had a separate commerce team in charge of inserting affiliate links and also writing the occasional affiliate post. I wasn’t sure of the exact workings.

As a traditional journalist, you definitely don’t write this type of post yourself!

But why not?

Well, honestly, this type of piece is what affiliate content originally should have been. It’s a best-case scenario: A person who uses a product, a real company selling a useful product, and the company paying the person a small referral commission each time someone goes and tries it out.

In its best case scenario, this is better than an ad, right? It’s not some banner ad I’m not familiar with — it’s a real product I personally use and endorse.

That was the original best case scenario, but then affiliate links metastasized. The web became full of them. These days, they often function more as marketing content than a real endorsement. That’s a shame.

I’m trying to do it the right way: I’ve used this for months, I like it, and I’d recommend it either way. That’s all.

This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for you

Have a great Thanksgiving Day weekend if you’re in the US — and have a great weekend if you’re not in the US. I’m grateful to have you reading my work.

And hey — give US Mobile a look. I really did switch, and I really do recommend it.

But, more importantly, if you’re still spending $40 or more each month on your cell phone bill, you should consider shopping around. There’s a lot of competition, and you can save a lot of cash in just a few clicks.

Qualcomm just released a Snapdragon Control Panel for updating graphics drivers on machines like mine. It’s another sign of the Windows on ARM platform growing up. And it got me thinking about how much I’d recommend these machines to other people.

I switched to an ARM laptop 16 months ago

Microsoft botched the unveiling of the first really good ARM PC laptops by branding them “Copilot+ PCs” and focusing on AI features like the controversial Windows Recall. But the real story in these Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite-powered PCs isn’t about the disappointing Copilot+ PC AI experience.

These machines offer long battery life without the whirring fans and the heat. They suspend properly when you close them and wake instantly, too. And they do it with snappy desktop performance. ARM laptops use CPUs that are more like the ones you’ll find in smartphones and tablets, and they just feel more modern.

Am I gaming or running demanding tasks on my ARM laptop? Absolutely not — that’s what my desktop PC with its powerful AMD CPU and NVIDIA GPU are for.

My laptop is for portability and Windows desktop tasks: writing, browsing the web, chatting, and using productivity apps. Nearly everything you’d want to run on a modern Windows desktop now likely runs fine on an ARM machine — unless you have old line-of-business apps. But even lots of old apps run. I’ve run some surprisingly ancient applications without any problems!

Paul Thurrott has talked a lot about how impressed he is with these machines, too. ARM PCs seem ready to take over mass-market laptops. Intel’s Lunar Lake hardware impressed me with its battery life, but it’s expensive, hard to find, and has serious performance drawbacks.

The next few years will see a renaissance of ARM chips from different manufacturers — not just Qualcomm. There are lots of rumors. We may get a gaming laptop from NVIDIA with an NVIDIA CPU and NVIDIA graphics!

The joy of the PC is choice. If you want a powerful desktop PC or beefy laptop for demanding tasks and gaming, you can get one. But if you just want a Windows laptop to use Windows desktop software on the go, I would recommend an ARM laptop.

It doesn’t have to be a Surface Laptop — but that’s the one I’ve spent the most time with and can endorse. It also doesn’t have to be now — maybe you’ll wait for the next wave of hardware. But I think you should seriously consider it when it’s time to buy your next machine.

Anyway, Microsoft made an absolute mess of the announcement, but ARM laptops are awesome. Even I am happy with them after more than a year of using one as my main laptop — but I do demanding tasks on my desktop PC.

If you’re wondering whether your applications run on an ARM machine, check out the Windows on ARM Ready Software page. That’s the big thing to consider before diving in.

The “Support Me” section

If you’re in the market for a laptop, you can check out the Surface Laptop on Amazon — at $749, it’s $450 off right now. The Snapdragon X Plus chip is the one I have. It actually seems to have longer battery life than the more expensive Snapdragon X Elite hardware, from the reviews I saw!

Full disclosure: This is an affiliate link. If you click the link and buy something, I may earn a small commission to help pay my bills.

But this isn’t a piece written to sell a product. I just want to share that ARM laptops really are as good as people like Paul Thurrott say they are. Unless you’re gaming, running applications that need serious computing horsepower, or using old hardware devices that require drivers not found on ARM — like old printers — the experience just feels so much nicer.

I’m not switching my desktop PC to ARM hardware any time soon, but I’m happy I made the leap to ARM on my laptop.

You should consider it, too — even if you’re not ready to buy a laptop yet. Keep it in mind. Also, if you’re on the fence, you can often try a laptop and return it if it doesn’t work for you. I wrote about using laptop return periods for PCWorld once!

Hey, what’s with the shorter-than-normal newsletter?

I’m glad you asked! If you haven’t noticed, The Windows ReadMe isn’t a big professional operation. At this point, The Windows ReadMe is basically my personal blog. I’m glad you’re here reading it, and I hope you find something useful. But not every week needs to have a newsletter designed to go viral.

I plan to keep providing an unfiltered window into my thoughts. Some weeks, those will be grand thoughts about what happened at How-To Geek or historical deep-dives on Windows. Other weeks, they may be shorter newsletters like this one, where I share how cool I find something and my experience using it. Both are things I want to share.

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The Thurrott section!

But speaking of Paul Thurrott, it’s time for this week’s Thurrott.com links. Just a reminder: This isn’t sponsored — no one is paying me to write this. I’m writing this because I respect Paul Thurrott’s work and we link to each other.

The two big stories of the week I feel like sharing are gaming and AI. Everyone’s talking about Microsoft putting AI agents on the taskbar. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s new full-screen Xbox experience is coming to more handheld PCs. You can see more about it in Paul Thurrott’s Legion Go 2 review.

Anyway, as I used to sign off when I had a job running Windows Intelligence: Have a great weekend! See you next week.