The journal said this move by Packard Bell NEC marks the second time that a major personal-computer maker has said it will not keep the link between Microsoft's operating system and its Internet Explorer web browser software.

In January, Microsoft and the US justice department reached a settlement, under which Microsoft agreed to comply with a preliminary injunction that gave PC makers the option to delete an icon for its Explorer software from machines that use Windows 95.

"NEC said it didn't intent the move to snub Microsoft, but simply as an accommodation to requests by corporate customers that want to outfit machines with software themselves," the journal wrote.