Claims of anti-competitive behavior are incredibly common in the world of tech; Google finds itself on the defensive on just about a weekly basis. Microsoft is certainly no stranger to accusations of anti-competitiveness, most notably for bundling Internet Explorer in older versions of Windows. But now it's Microsoft's approach to security that's in the firing line.

Eugene Kaspersky (yes, that one: the Russian security expert and CEO of Kaspersky Lab) has fired a vitriolic tirade at Microsoft in which he complains about how Windows Defender works in Windows 10. Windows 10 has been lambasted for many reasons since it launched, and things are not really improving as we near the launch of Windows 10 Creators Update. Kaspersky is so furious about the way in which Defender operates that he has written a lengthy and bitter blog post entitled: "That's It. I've Had Enough!"

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Microsoft has kept its promise and delivered a vulnerability patch for its Windows operating system, for a flaw, revealed by Google, which allowed attackers to gain full control of a targeted system.

Releasing the details in a security bulletin, Microsoft says the flaw in the Windows kernel "could allow elevation of privilege if an attack logs onto an affected system and runs a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerabilities".

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We’ve already started to see the beginnings of the next big version of Windows 10 appearing in new builds for Windows Insiders. Termed the Creators Update it has a heavy focus on 3D, but there’s more to it than just that.

The previous new Insider Build, released last week, didn’t have much in terms of new features on show, but the latest offering, Build 14965, is thankfully much more exciting.

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Just the other day users started to notice that Microsoft was using Windows 10 to push ads for its Edge browser. Already riled by ads for Windows 10 itself and the appearance of app ads in the Start menu, people were soon asking how to stop the unwanted popups.

One suggestion that started doing the round was that simply unpinning Microsoft Edge from the taskbar does the job -- but it doesn’t seem to work for everyone. Here are a few more things you can do to prevent the appearance of Microsoft's ads.

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With Windows 10, Microsoft faced criticism for its heavy promotion of the new operating system. Windows 7 and 8 users became more than a little annoyed by the presence of persistent nagging upgrade prompts, and others have been irritated by the addition of 'promoted apps' to the Start menu.

Now Microsoft is at it again. Apparently unhappy with the number of people using its Edge browser, the company is now trying to encourage people to switch from rivals by using popup ads to push Edge and Bing Rewards. Will the company never learn?

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Two-hundred-and-five in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 on Windows Store in the past seven days.

Microsoft released a new Windows Insider build this week. You can check out what is new here.

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For anyone who is a Windows Insider, the release of a new insider build is something of a double-edged sword. There is -- of course -- the excitement of trying out the latest and greatest build of Windows, but there is also the prospect of a huge download; one that must be completed on every computer you use.

Microsoft has a plan to reduce the size of update downloads. The Unified Update Platform (UUP) sees the introduction of differential download packages meaning that users need only download the bits that have changed since the last release rather than having to download the whole build in its entirety. It's a feature that will be an important part of Windows 10 Creators Update next year, but -- of course -- Insiders get to try it out sooner.

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It’s taken a few days longer than normal for a new build to arrive for Windows Insiders, but Build 14959 for both PC and Mobile finally makes its way onto the Fast ring.

This is the first new build since Microsoft announced the next big step in Windows 10’s evolution -- Creators Update. This is due to be released early next year, but Windows Insiders will get an early taste of all its new features and improvements.

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It used to be that if you wanted a powerful gaming PC, you would need a monstrous tower with many loud fans. Nowadays, you can build a Mini-ITX system that offers impressive specifications in a tiny package.

What if you want something even smaller? Zotac has a new VR-Ready mini PC that is shockingly tiny. Inside the diminutive 'MAGNUS ERX480' barebones box is an Intel Skylake Core i5-6400T and an AMD Radeon RX480 (4GB GDDR5 256-bit). It supports DDR4 RAM (1866 or 2133) up to to 32GB and an M.2 connector for storage. For convenience, it can also be had with both RAM and storage installed from the factory. You can choose to have Windows 10 pre-installed too.

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One of Windows 10’s biggest new features is the inclusion of Microsoft’s personal assistant, Cortana. She can do all sorts of things for you, from searching the web, to setting reminders, and even looking up songs as they play.

You can summon Cortana at any time simply by saying "Hey, Cortana", but if you’d rather call her something different -- "Siri", perhaps, or "Darling", or "Ava" -- it’s possible to give her a name change. This is how.

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The first anniversary of the launch of Windows 10 was marked by Microsoft revealing that the operating system enjoyed one of the fastest adoption rates in the history of Windows. The software giant announced that over 300 million devices are now using Windows 10. Adoption rates for its latest operating system are 145 percent higher than for Windows 7 and 400 percent better than for Windows 8.

But however popular Windows 10 might be in terms of user adoption, it still brings a lot of the baggage of its predecessors for IT professionals to deal with, including painful migrations, time-consuming end-point management and patches. Even with improvements to minimize these issues, Windows 10 can still cause headaches as IT administrators attempt to migrate their endpoint devices without negatively affecting their users.

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Windows 10 Mobile is a solid smartphone operating system with two big flaws -- lack of both apps and developers. This has lead to such low market share, that many consider Microsoft's mobile operating system to be irrelevant. With that said, not everyone needs a lot of apps. If you mostly do things like text messaging, surfing the web, and accessing email on the go, a Windows 10 device is a brilliantly secure way to do so.

Today, Alcatel officially announces the previously leaked IDOL 4S with Windows 10 (there is an Android version too). Not only is the inexpensive device beautiful, but chocked full of solid specs and wonderful features too. Best of all, it comes with a virtual reality headset in the box!

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While Microsoft Edge might be a little lacking in features, compared to more established browsers like Chrome and Firefox, one area where it is better than its rivals is security.

That’s according to NSS Labs which today announced the results of its latest Web Browser Security comparative test. The test pitted Chrome, Firefox and -- for the first time -- Edge against each other to see how effective the browsers are at protecting against threats.

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While it was free, and being aggressively pushed on to users (whether they wanted it or not), Windows 10 saw strong growth, rapidly gaining significant market share. However, since it became a paid product, it’s fair to say the new operating system has been struggling.

In September, NetMarketShare reported that Windows 10 didn’t just show slower growth, it went into reverse gear and actually lost usage share. And things weren’t much better for Windows 10 in October either.

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If you're the sort of person who likes to change the look of their desktop with themes, you had better start saving up ahead of the launch of Windows 10 Creators Update. We already know that Microsoft is using the next update to bring 3D tools such as Paint 3D to the masses, but it will also be used to make a bit of money.

A video showcasing what we can expect to see in Windows 10 Creators Update in early 2017 focuses mainly on the 3D side of things. But it also reveals that it will be possible to customize the look of Windows 10 using paid-for themes.

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