fter four years of legal battling, the first — and perhaps only — visible result of the government's antitrust case against Microsoft will arrive this summer: an update to the Windows XP operating system that lets users hide the computer screen icons of some Microsoft programs.

Microsoft agreed to make the changes to its latest version of Windows in the settlement it reached with the Justice Department last fall. The company said it was complying with the settlement now, even though it had not yet been approved by a federal judge. "This is following the letter and the spirit of the consent decree," said Jim Cullinan, a Microsoft spokesman.

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But it is not yet clear whether that decree is the final word on how Microsoft must change its business practices after being held liable for antitrust violations by an appeals court last June. And some analysts say Microsoft may have decided to show off the updated software last week — months before it will reach consumers — because the primary audience is the federal judge who is in the process of deciding whether to approve the settlement.

In addition to ruling on whether the settlement is in the public interest, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the United States District Court in Washington must decide whether to impose broader restrictions proposed by a coalition of state attorneys general, who argue that the decree is too lenient. The states say that Microsoft should be required to remove not just the icons to its programs, but the underlying code.

The power of the operating system depends on how many applications are developed to run on it, they say, and developers still write programs to run on the code they know is distributed with every version of Windows, even if the icons are sometimes hidden.

Closing arguments in that proceeding are scheduled for June 19, and the judge's decision is expected in late summer or early fall — around the time the software update, or "service pack," for Windows XP will begin shipping in new computers. The upgrade will also be available free from Microsoft's Web site.

"This might comply with the spirit of the Justice Department settlement," said Roger Kay, an analyst with the technology market research firm IDC. "But the Justice Department settlement violates the spirit of what the antitrust suit is all about."

The upgrade allows customers to hide the icons to Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser, Windows Media Player audio and video playback software, Outlook Express e-mail program and Windows Messenger instant messenger software, in addition to choosing which version of the Java Virtual Machine they want to use. Currently, computer makers and consumers can install competing software, like the Netscape Navigator browser, but Microsoft's software cannot be removed from view.

In the new version of Windows XP, Microsoft has designed a screen with four options from which users can choose the programs they want. By clicking the choice at the top of the screen, they can select all Microsoft programs. The second choice offers all non-Microsoft programs, and the third allows users to customize their Web browsers and their e-mail programs.

The changes are designed to address the portion of the appeals court ruling that found that Microsoft had illegally undermined Netscape, which could have evolved into a competing operating system, by preventing computer makers from removing the Internet Explorer browser from Windows. In the settlement, Microsoft agreed that the prohibition on that behavior would extend not just to the browser but also to other programs that it has since bundled into its operating system.

Because some consumers are likely to choose the option preselected for them by their computer maker, analysts said the changes would provide a new opening for a company like RealNetworks to promote its software, which competes with the Windows Media Player. RealNetworks could pay computer manufacturers to hide the Media Player and include the RealPlayer in its block of preselected programs, for instance. Microsoft is prohibited by the consent decree from retaliating against computer makers who do not favor its programs over those of rivals.

Representatives from Dell Computer and Gateway, which use Microsoft's programs as their default, said it was too early to say whether they would switch. Several Microsoft competitors, who have not yet seen the new screen, said they want to see whether Microsoft manages to lure consumers to its own programs even as it expands choice.

"Theoretically this could be helpful," said John Buckley, a spokesman for AOL Time Warner, which owns Netscape and AOL Instant Messenger. "But we have yet to see how much of this is real, how much is cosmetic and how much is an attempt to influence the current antitrust proceeding."