In a strangely worrying turn of events, Microsoft has highlighted flaws in its software offerings by releasing a patch with a record number of fixes.

One of the updates was designed to fix a vulnerability in Windows Media Runtime and as such was seen as a critical change for all operating systems. It stopped attackers being able to remotely execute malware through a malicious audio or video file and steal people's details.

Overall, 13 security updates were strung together by the release, targeting 34 vulnerabilities in its products. Of these, eight were critical and the remaining five were only slightly downgraded to important.

Every critical patch would, if not fixed, allowed a clever hacker to take total control of a PC from a remote location.

Today, Google announced that it has released a new tool in its webmaster resources to help businesses address websites affected by malware attacks.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent).