PC makers that ship Windows XP with icons on the desktop will have to include at least three Microsoft-mandated icons: MSN, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player.

Microsoft is telling PC makers that ship Wndows XP to have at least three icons on the desktop: MSN, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player.

Users can protect themselves by disabling active scripting in Internet Explorer or by not using MSN Messenger, which is software offered free by Microsoft and is a standard part of Windows XP.

While the software leviathan's Internet Explorer easily reaches MSN, other browsers--such as Opera, Mozilla and some versions of Netscape--run into trouble.