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Chairman Bill Gates says Microsoft will provide its new spyware-scrubbing tool for free, and release a new, more secure version of the Internet Explorer Web browser.

Expect both this summer.

The move comes three years after Microsoft, the world's biggest software company, launched a major initiative to improve the reliability and security of its software, which runs on about 90 percent of all personal computers. Most viruses, worms and hacker attacks exploit weaknesses in Microsoft products.

Analyst Michael Cherry with the independent research firm Directions on Microsoft says the spyware tool, which will target malicious programs that keep tabs on Internet users and clog their machines with pop-up ads, will help computer users.