Microsoft has launched two new security products, bolstering the capabilities of Microsoft Defender. The company says that the aim of the two tools is to help organizations lock down their infrastructure and reduce their overall attack surface.

The tools, Microsoft says, also provide "deeper context into threat actor activity" making it easier to predict malicious activity and secure resources. Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence works by mapping the internet every day, so that security teams have the data needed to understand current attack techniques, while with Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management lets security teams see their system as attackers do.

It is time for a new build of everyone's favorite Windows utility collection, PowerToys. Microsoft has just released version 0.61.0 of the tools, with the company saying that the v0.61 release cycle is focused on stability and improvements.

But don't let this somewhat self-deprecating description put you off -- there's actually quite a lot to this update. Key changes include updates to the ever-popular FancyZones, as well as Always on Top and PowerToys Run, and updates to the Windows 11 context menu.

A lack of ads and unlimited track skipping are both pretty good reasons to cough up for a Spotify Premium subscription, but for some people it is not enough.

The streaming audio service apparently agrees that paying subscribers do not currently get enough for their outlay and is adding features to increase value for money. So, what does Spotify think will entice would-be subscribers into taking the plunge? New control buttons; buttons most people would reasonably expect to be included in an audio app as standard, rather than as a premium feature.

Following a backlash from ordinary users, as well as influencers and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, Instagram has announced that it is rolling back a number of recent changes to the social platform.

One of the new features that caused widespread irritation was a TikTok-aping video-focused recommendation system which means users were no longer seeing as much content from accounts they actually follow. Another unpopular change was a new full-screen view for posts. Instagram owners Meta says that after the rollback it will "take the time" to get the changes right.

It was hardly a surprise when Twitter launched a subscription service in the form of Twitter Blue. In exchange for $2.99 a month, anyone keen to gain access to extra feature could help top up the social media company's coffers.

But it seems that the coffers have not been topped up enough as Twitter has announced a price hike. The cost of a Twitter Blue subscription jumps by two thirds for new subscribers with immediate effect, and existing subscribers can expect to pay the new, higher price in the near future.

Microsoft has finally made it possible to purchase Windows 11 product keys and download the software straight from its servers, an option that has been weirdly unavailable for the year the OS has been in existence. Windows 11 has been available as a free upgrade for quite some time now, but there are reasons for wanting to -- or at least needing to -- buy a copy of the operating system.

If you're building a PC from scratch, for instance, you'll need to install Windows 11 from scratch, and this means you can't take advantage of a free upgrade. But buying direct from Microsoft, while a welcome option, is far from being the only way to buy Windows 11, and it's certainly not the cheapest.

Microsoft has released a new update for Windows 10 that not only addresses various issues with the operating system, but also adds new notification options for the focus assist feature.

KB5015878 is a non-security update, and it is a preview of the update that will be released more widely next month. Available for Windows 10 version 21H1 and 21H2, as well as Enterprise, Education and Server editions of the OS, the update will be of interest to anyone who has experienced problems with docking station internet connectivity, video playback in games, and other issues.

Several months ago, Microsoft released a series of updates for Windows 10 and Windows 11 that caused endless problems with printing. Subsequent updates that were supposed to fix the initial problems either failed to do so, or introduced new issues. Now printer problems have popped up again

The issues stem from the recently released KB5014666 update, and it is specifically causing problems printing to USB connected devices. This time around, it is only users of Windows 10 that are affected, but this is a huge number of people. Microsoft has provided details of potential workarounds.

Microsoft has performed another Known Issue Rollback (KIR) after Windows 11 users complained of Start menu problems after installing the KB5014668 update.

KIRs used to be relatively rare, but there have been several issues recently that have required them to be implemented. In the case of the recently released KB5014668 update, some users found that it was not possible to open the Start menu either by clicking the Start button or by using the keyboard.

Facebook's love of algorithms has meant that there has been a highly polarizing focus on recommended content in users' feeds rather than posts from friends, family and pages of genuine interest. But this is changing.

In a move that will please millions of Facebook users who have become increasingly frustrated with the way recommended content is pushed into their feed, Mark Zuckerberg has announced that iOS and Android users are being treated to feed split over two tabs. While one of these will remain populated with content surfaced by Facebook's "discovery engine", the other is a chronological feed of content from friends, groups and Pages.

It is the time of the month when Microsoft unleashes its C release updates on eager Windows users. As such, the company has released a preview of the KB5015882 update for Windows 11, bringing a number of important changes and bug fixes.

Although this is a non-security update, KB5015882 remains significant for a number of reasons. Not only does it address an issue that caused explorer.exe to hang, but it also introduces new upgrade options and makes changes to focus assist.

Microsoft has introduced a change to Windows 11 that makes it much harder to use brute force attacks to crack passwords. Starting with the latest Insider builds, there is a new account lockout policy in place by default.

The policy means that should an incorrect password be entered 10 times, the account will be locked for 10 minutes. While this does not make brute forcing impossible, by any means, it makes it much harder and more time consuming, boosting security in an important area.

Microsoft frequently runs bug bashes to help weed out problems with Windows 11. These often focus on particular areas of the operating system and the company has just announced a "a special Bug Bash" to coincide with the release of the latest beta build.

Just a couple of days ago, Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22622.436 (KB5015888) to the Beta Channel. Now the Bug Bash is underway, running until July 25, with beta testers being asked to complete various quests and provide feedback.

Google has announced that app developers in Europe -- and only Europe -- will be able to implement alternative billing systems for apps and games listed in Google Play.

On top of this, the company says that although any developer that does choose to use a different billing system will still be required to pay a service fee, it will be a reduced fee. The changes are in response to the recent Digital Markets Act.

We've known for a little while that there was a cheaper subscription tier coming to Netflix. We have also been aware that the price to pay for a reduction in price is the requirement to view ads -- Netflix has teamed up with Microsoft as its advertising partner.

But the inclusion of ads is not the only downside to the cheaper tier. Netflix has now revealed that ad-supported subscriptions will not be able to access all of its video content.