Here are the top 10 most viewed stories on Neowin in 2024

2025 is only a few days away from us, so let's remember the most popular stories published on Neowin this year. Like the same recap from 2023, this one has some Windows 11 controversies, non-Microsoft stores, useful and still relevant guides, bugs, Windows 10 news and more.

10. Installing Windows 11 24H2 on unsupported PCs

Quite a lot of people want Windows 11 version 24H2 even though their systems do not officially support the update. Our guide about installing Windows 11 24H2 on unsupported PCs attracted quite a lot of users, which earned it 10th place in the list of the most popular stories in 2024.

If you are interested, check out what is new in Windows 11 version 24H2 here.

9. Elon Musk vs Windows 11's quirks

One of Windows 11's annoying quirks is the requirement to sign in with a Microsoft Account during the initial setup experience in online mode (use oobe\bypassnro to skip it in offline mode). Earlier this year, Elon Musk bought a Windows 11 PC and took it to Twitter X to express his frustration with the inability to set up the device without a Microsoft Account.

Read Neowin next time, Elon; we have explained how to fix that multiple times.

8. Windows 11 market share's odd behavior

Did you know that Windows 11 was the first modern Windows version to lose its market share while being the latest and greatest? In 2024, has been losing users for three consecutive months. After that, however, it bumped right back up and started climbing again. As of right now, the OS holds ~35% of the market, with Windows 10 still pretty far away.

7. Samsung kills RCS in its Messages app

In December, users discovered that Samsung decided to kill RCS support in its Messages app for Verizon subscribers. While not necessarily a Microsoft story, the news generated quite a lot of attention.

6. Microsoft and its struggles to fix Windows 10 errors

Microsoft had spent some time trying to fix a bug causing the 0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE error in WinRE updates. After some back and forth, Microsoft revealed that the only way to fix the problem was by manually changing the size of the WinRE partition to allocate an extra 250MB.

5. CrowdStrike hit Linux, but nobody cared

One of the biggest tech events in 2024 was the massive Windows PC outage caused by a faulty CrowdStrike security update pushed to millions of computers. As expected, the event caused a tidal wave of Windows hate (Microsoft again, amirite?). As it later turned out, Linux was not immune to similar issues, but no one cared.

4. Five more years of support for Windows 10

If you do not plan to update your computer from Windows 10 to 11, regardless of its compatibility, you can either pay Microsoft $30 for an extra 12 months of support or use third-party solutions, such as 0patch, which promises five years of security updates.

3. Windows 11 and nonconsensual OneDrive backups

Quietly and without any announcement, Microsoft changed how the OneDrive backup system works in Windows 11. Those setting up Windows 11 in online mode with a Microsoft Account will have OneDrive backup turned on by default, resulting in a lot of unexpected shortcuts and files appearing on the desktop and other folders. A lot of people are not happy about it, which is why the story finished as the third most popular post on Neowin in 2024.

At least we are no longer required to tell Microsoft why we want to close OneDrive.

2. Microsoft lets more users have Windows 11

This year, Microsoft fixed a two-year-old bug preventing some Windows 10 users from upgrading to Windows 11 due to incompatibility with certain Intel drivers. Again, despite the hate the OS receives, the news made quite a lot of people happy.

1. SpaceX's streak of flawless launches ended

In July, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket to put 20 Starlink satellites into Earth's orbit. However, during the launch, the Merlin engine suffered from ice build-up and was destroyed in the process, resulting in the satellites' deployment on a much lower orbit. This incident ended SpaceX's long streak of flawless launches. Shit happens.

And that is it for the most popular articles published on Neowin in 2024. Thank you for sticking with us, and let's hope 2025 will bring more interesting stories!