 Epic Games Inc.’s decision to sue Apple Inc. over its mobile store practices has sparked new scrutiny in the massive Japanese gaming market, prompting complaints and questions about how to counter the tech giant’s dominance. While Epic, publisher of the hit title Fortnite, focuses on the 30% revenue cut app stores typically take, Japanese game studios have broader concerns. They have long been unhappy with what they see as Apple’s inconsistent enforcement of its own App Store guidelines, unpredictable content decisions, and lapses in communication, according to more than a dozen people involved in the matter. Japan’s antitrust regulator said it will step up attention to the iPhone maker’s practices in the wake of the high-stakes legal clash. And in rare cases, prominent executives are beginning to speak out after staying silent out of fear of reprisal. “I want from the bottom of my heart Epic to win,” Hironao Kunimitsu, founder, and chairman of Tokyo-based mobile game maker Gumi Inc. wrote on his Facebook page. Apple and Google hold a duopoly over the mobile app market outside China. Any publisher that wants a game to be played on iPhones or Android devices is effectively forced to distribute it via their app stores, sharing revenue from an initial purchase and future, related items. Epic, whose Fortnite generates more than $1 billion annually from in-game purchases of virtual cosmetics and extras, sued both companies for what it considers excessive fees and for the right to sell game extras directly to players. Apple and Google have disputed those charges in court. The iPhone maker argues its cut is justified by its provision of security, development support, and an audience of a billion users. The iPhone is a huge revenue driver for game creators in Japan, including established names like Square Enix Holdings Co., which gets 40% of its group revenue from smartphone games, and Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. Sony Corp. has a multibillion-dollar mobile hit called Fate/Grand Order. With 702,000 registered developers, Japan is home to one of the most creative developer communities. A recent study commissioned by Apple estimated the App Store ecosystem in Japan generated $37 billion in billings and sales in 2019 -- $11 billion in digital goods and services, $24 billion via physical goods and services, and $2 billion from in-app advertising. Read more on OUR FORUM.  Recently, it was discovered that Microsoft is no longer allowing consumers to disable Windows Defender antivirus tool via the Windows Registry. Microsoft originally remained tight-lighted on the changes made to Windows 10’s antivirus tool, but the company has now shared more details on the whole controversy. Microsoft again confirmed that it has retired ‘DisableAntiSpyware’ to prevent users from disabling Windows Defender via Windows Registry. However, Microsoft says it has retired the legacy option to disable the antivirus because it no longer makes any sense in the latest version of Defender. Windows Defender is designed to turn off automatically whenever users try to install another antivirus product, so it doesn’t really make sense to disable Windows 10’s built-in protection tool manually, according to Microsoft. ‘DisableAntiSpyware’ is designed only for IT pros and admins to disable the antivirus engine whenever they need to install their own security product. “The impact of the DisableAntiSpyware removal is limited to Windows 10 versions prior to 1903 using Microsoft Defender Antivirus. This change does not impact third party antivirus connections to the Windows Security app. Those will still work as expected,” Microsoft noted. By retiring this feature, Microsoft will also prevent attackers from turning off Windows Defender. A report suggests that Windows 10’s built-in antivirus software ‘Windows Defender’ has been updated with a new feature that could be abused by attackers to download malware from the internet. According to security researcher Askar, Windows Defender has been updated with a new command-line feature called “MpCmdRun.exe”, otherwise known as Microsoft Antimalware Service Command Line Utility. Security researcher Askar claims that these changes to the Windows Defender-powered command-line tool could be abused by attackers as a living-off-the-land binary (LOLBin). In other words, hackers can abuse these binaries and download any file from the internet, including malware. It also means that users will be able to use Windows Defender itself to download any file from the internet. This is unlikely to be a major security flaw as files are still checked by Windows Defender after you finish the download using the command-line tool. In theory, Windows Defender tool can’t be used to download any malware that could infect your system, but this is an odd change, and security researchers believe that it could be abused. Details are posted on OUR FORUM.  If you've kept on top of the latest Windows 10 developments, you may have spotted the Windows 10 VPN client's existence. It sounds super promising by its very name, suggesting you don't need a dedicated VPN solution, and you can simply flick it at any time you need the added protection and security. Dig a little deeper, however, and you may be disappointed by what the built-in VPN client means for you. While the built-in client is likely enough for some people, there will be others who are looking for more from it. Read on and we'll tell you everything you need to know about the Windows 10 VPN and whether it's worth using. You see the words 'VPN client,' and you think it'll solve all your VPN needs, right? Well, the Windows 10 VPN client isn't really a VPN service all of its own. Effectively, it's a desktop client that helps you connect to a third-party VPN network separately. Yup, it's a container basically. You'll still need to subscribe to a 'proper' VPN service to take advantage of the Windows 10 VPN client. This does mean that you won't need to download any additional software, which is something that will make some people happy. But, are the feature trade-offs worth it when you could just download the VPN's own client instead? Well, let's keep looking at what the Windows 10 client offers. Once you've hooked up your full VPN service with the Windows 10 VPN client, you might think it's plain sailing from now on. Unfortunately, there are some further restrictions. You have to set up a connection profile to use it, and each profile only has room for one server address and one connection protocol. If you like to switch between different servers regularly through your VPN, this immediately restricts your options unless you keep creating new profiles. We'll be blunt - the Windows 10 built-in VPN client isn't great for everyone. It needs a bit of technical knowledge as it asks you about protocol choices and other features that most VPN service clients don't bother asking anymore. They're far more intuitive and user-friendly than the Windows option. There's also the matter of needing to set up yet another client when you've already just signed up for a VPN service. It feels like an unnecessary step because it is. The Windows 10 VPN client is super rudimentary. It looks like one of the more technical sides of Windows when numerous VPN apps look more attractive. At their simplest, VPN service clients tend to include maps that help you pick what location server you want to connect to, but they also offer extra features that can be very useful. We've said many negative things about the Windows 10 built-in VPN client and for a good reason. For most users, it's simply pointless. If you've just signed up for a VPN service, it makes far more sense to use the VPN's dedicated app to connect and switch between servers. It's simpler to use, and you'll have the full wealth of features that the VPN offers made available to you. There is an exception to this rule, though. If you're technically minded and keen to avoid the potential bloat of having unnecessary apps installed, the Windows 10 VPN client does offer benefits. You don't need to install any extra apps to connect to your chosen VPN which is useful if you have limited space, or if your system is very low spec and needs all the help it can get to keep running smoothly. Complete details are posted on OUR FORUM.
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