Microsoft has agreed to reposition a program in the Windows XP Start menu so users can more easily set non-Microsoft programs as their default choices, as part of the company"s antitrust settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Microsoft has agreed to make the Set Program Access and Defaults icon more prominent in the Windows XP Start menu, said Jim Desler, a Microsoft spokesperson. The program allows users to change their default software, including switches to browsers and media players not made by Microsoft.
Microsoft believed the old positioning of Set Program Access and Defaults in the Start menu complied with an antitrust consent degree, approved in November by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, Desler said. But the company agreed to change the positioning in a "spirit of cooperation" with the DOJ.