With less than two weeks to go until 2025, it's time to look back at the list of features that Microsoft has stopped supporting or removed from Windows 10 and 11 in 2024.
Looking at the numbers, the number of features that Microsoft removed from the Windows environment last year was not as high as in 2023. There were some “farewells” that were predicted in advance, but there were also many features that were removed that left many regrets.
Windows Features That Will Be Removed in 2024
Windows Subsystem for Android | March 2024
Starting with the big one: Android app support. A feature that was once central to the Windows 11 experience has been stripped away.
You can no longer download Windows Subsystem for Android, the Amazon App Store for Windows, and any other officially supported apps. However, if you already have some apps installed, they will continue to work until March 5, 2025. While Microsoft has never provided any official explanation for the decision to kill Windows Subsystem for Android, some of the company's developers have revealed that the project was headed in the wrong direction from the start.
Test Base | March 2024
Test Base, a cloud-based Azure service that facilitates application testing, has been shut down. On June 1, 2024, Microsoft “shut down” Test Base and deleted all user information, claiming that Windows 11 itself and the “continuous innovation” of the operating system have solved “a large percentage of application compatibility issues,” so Test Base is no longer needed.
TLS Server Authentication Certificate with Several RSA Keys | March 2024
RSA keys shorter than 2048 bits are no longer valid for certificates. Microsoft has removed them to improve security when using certificates for authentication and cryptography purposes.
Password payload in MPR messages | March 2024
This is another security-related change in Windows 11 version 24H2 and later. The NPLogonNotify and NPPasswordChangeNotify APIs have been deprecated to prevent password exposure. However, since some customers may still need these APIs, Microsoft is still licensing them through a dedicated policy.
Microsoft Defender Application Guard | April 2024
The Microsoft Defender Application Guard (MDAG) extension was essentially a security tool that monitored untrusted websites and redirected them from your current browser to an isolated instance of Microsoft Edge. This extension (available for Chrome and Firefox) was discontinued in May 2024.
Driver Verifier GUI | May 2024
Driver Verifier is a special component for stress testing Windows drivers. While the verifier is not gone, its graphical user interface is now obsolete. Microsoft recommends users to use the Verifier Command Line (verifier.exe) instead of the Driver Verifier GUI.
NTLM | June 2024
The New Technology Lan Manager utility has been removed, and Microsoft says all NTLM calls will be replaced with Negotiate calls. Interestingly, despite promising to keep NTLM, Microsoft has actually quietly removed NTLM from consumer and server versions of Windows in December 2024.
DirectAccess | June 2024
DirectAccess, a remote connection feature to corporate networks introduced in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, is now deprecated and replaced by Always on VPN.
Adobe Type 1 Fonts | August 2024
Adobe discontinued support for Type 1 fonts about two years ago, preventing users from using certain creative apps. As a result, Microsoft has also decided to discontinue support for Type 1 fonts in modern versions of Windows, and users are advised to remove them in Settings > Personalization > Fonts.
Paint3D | August 2024
Paint3D was Microsoft's failed attempt to modernize the classic Paint by adding 3D capabilities. Paint3D is no longer available for download from the Microsoft Store.
Legacy DRM Services | September 2024
This is the only feature that doesn't directly impact the Windows 10 and 11 experience. The end of legacy DRM services means you won't be able to play protected content in Windows Media Player and Silverlight on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Xbox 360.
In total, Microsoft has discontinued support for 11 Windows features and components by 2024. Do you have any special memories of these features? Share them with us!
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