BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Microsoft is planning a new, more secure version of Internet Explorer to combat privacy-stealing and PC-clogging spyware and other virtual pests, company Chairman Bill Gates said in a speech to security experts Tuesday.

Microsoft (MSFT) is readying a new, more secure version of Internet Explorer, the world's most widely used - and hacked - Web browser, company Chairman Bill Gates said in a speech to security experts Tuesday.

    The software giant will start testing the upgrade IE 7 this summer and make it available only to users of the latest version of Windows ¡ª XP with last summer's Service Pack 2 upgrade, which also came with security improvements to IE 6. "Spyware ... is something we need to nip now," Gates said.

    The moves are part of a wide-ranging effort by the world's largest software maker to improve the security and reliability of its Windows operating system and other programs, which have become favorite targets of hackers, virus writers and other malware creators.

    Speaking at the annual RSA Conference, a major gathering of computer security experts, Gates outlined successes over the past year but did not suggest total victory was imminent or even possible. Microsoft has distributed more than 170 million copies of a major security enhancement to Windows XP since its release last year, but Gates said more work is needed.

    "It's a challenging area and new threats seem to be emerging all the time," Gates said. "But I'm optimistic ... we'll be able to mitigate the security problems and therefore let the advances of this digital infrastructure allow for fantastic things to happen."

    This new version will be bundled with the next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn.

    The company did not mention any non-security improvements such as features found in rival browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Opera.  Enditem

    (Agencies)