The Register's Top 20 Most-Commented Stories in 2016

This is what got you stoked

Published fri 30 Dec 2016 // 15:02 UTC

Brexit and Windows 10 stories dominated reader discussions in 2016.

It’s no surprise that the departure from the European Union of its second biggest economy should be a major talking point. It was the biggest political shock in the UK since 1945, few UK readers are unaffected, and it most likely terminates a political project that most of us have taken for granted.

But we’ve forgotten how much Microsoft’s determination to foist Windows 10 upon us annoyed users – whether at home or in business.

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If you scan the Top 20 (below), you might be forgiven for thinking these are instalments in the same story. But that’s the crazy thing – they’re not. The hyper-aggressive Windows 10 upgrade initiative took so many forms, and broke so many norms, it was hard to keep count. To stay on Windows 7 or Windows 8.x, you needed to negotiate trick dialog boxes, polymorphous patches, and persistent nagging. And even then Microsoft would keep trying to force the upgrade on you. At least the Anniversary Update brought real and solid improvements to an OS that had been released in 2015 half-finished.

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In a year of "fake news", you may enjoy a terrific demolition of the fake BBC detector van story that a few papers ran – updated for the iPlayer era.

And an honorary mention to Alistair Dabbs for debunking the tech pundits’ predictions of hot topics for 2016 that he made way back in January. They look pretty spot on 12 months later. We may as well run it all over again, just changing the year.

Our colleague Lester Haines' untimely death shocked many readers; do take the time to read a fitting tribute to his many adventures.

So here’s the Top 20 Reg Stories of 2016 by the number of comments they generated. Thanks for all your amazing contributions, readers – as a Reg veteran, I know it’s one of the highlights of the job. Happy New Year. ®

No.	Story	Comments	Author
1	Mud sticks: Microsoft, Windows 10and reputational damage	509	Andrew
2	Lester Haines: RIP	440	TeamReg
3	Free Windows 10 upgrade: Time isrunning out - Should you do it?	393	Tim
4	Three non-obvious reasons to VoteLeave on the 23rd	384	Andrew
5	PM resigns as Britain votes to leave EU	378	Andrew
6	Ad-blocker blocking websites face legalperil at hands of privacy bods	347	Iain
7=	BBC detector vans are back to spy onyour home Wi-Fi – if you can believe it	346	Chris
7=	Brexit may not mean Brexit at all: UK.govloses Article 50 lawsuit	346	Gareth
9	Microsoft's Windows 10 nagware goesFULL SCREEN in final push	341	Shaun
10	Prominent Brit law firm instructed to blockBrexit Article 50 trigger	327	Gavin
11	New UK trade deals would not compensatefor loss of single market membership	323	OutLaw
12	Trump's plan: Tariffs on electronics, ban onskilled tech migrants, turn off the internet	323	Simon
13	Wannabe Prime Minister Andrea Leadsomthinks all websites should be rated –just like movies	305	Kieren
14	Windows 10 will now automatically downloadand install on PCs	323	Iain
15	Microsoft herds biz users to Windows 10by denying support for Win 7 and 8 onnew CPUs	301	Richard
16	Flying Spaghetti Monster is not God,rules mortal judge	299	Simon
17	'Windows 10 nagware: You can't click X.Make a date OR ELSE'	298	Gavin
18	No escape: Microsoft injects 'GetWindows 10' nagware into biz PCs	293	Chris
19	UK's new Snoopers' Charter justpassed an encryption backdoor lawby the backdoor	280	Kieren
20	Five technologies you shouldn't botherlooking out for in 2016	279	Dabbsy