Microsoft said Wednesday that it planned to change the way it distributes its flagship Windows XP operating system software, in response to a ``worm'' that has spread over the Internet in recent days attacking tens of thousands of personal computers by exploiting vulnerabilities in Windows.

Dissemination of the worm, a virus-like program, slowed Wednesday as network administrators and individual computer users around the world took steps to protect their machines, even as Microsoft's critics stepped up their complaints that the company's industry-dominant software puts its customers at risk of such outbreaks.

In at least a partial answer to its critics, Microsoft said it would begin shipping the consumer and business versions of Windows XP with the protective network firewall completely activated, to make PCs less vulnerable to attacks


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