The move comes in response to an agreement with EU authorities that targeted the software giant's bundling of IE along with its market-leading Windows operating system; a practice which the regulators consider to be abusive, anti-competitive marketing.
As a result, on March 1, EU-based Windows users running the XP, Vista, or Windows 7 operating system will be presented with an option screen as part of the next automatic Windows Update. The screen will reportedly provide a list of alternative browsers, along with download and installation links.
Surfers in the U.K., France and Belgium have already been given the alternative browser option through Windows Update; which reportedly unpins IE from the user's task bar, regardless of the browser choice being made.
Microsoft will also now allow European PC makers and consumers to turn IE off and to offer builders the ability to ship PCs containing the browser of their choice without restriction.
The settlement with the European Commission comes in the wake of a formal complaint by Opera Software, a Norwegian web browser development company, which claims that IE's bundling with Windows and default use creates an anti-competitive business environment.