SEATTLE (Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp. ended more than a decade of antitrust disputes with the European Union by giving consumers a choice among web browsers.

Microsoft's Windows operating system will include a screen that gives users the option of using rival browsers, the European Commission said in a statement. The so-called choice screen, available by mid-March, lets users turn off Microsoft's Internet Explorer and install an alternative.

The accord eliminates the possibility of Microsoft having to pay a large fine and means the company can increase focus on a shrinking market share in Europe. Mozilla Corp.'s Firefox overtook Internet Explorer as the most popular browser in Germany, according to a study by Fittkau and Maass this month. Microsoft has been fined 1.68 billion euros ($2.46 billion) in previous EU antitrust probes.

"It's a very good way of solving the issue in a relatively painless way," said Annette Luise Schild, a partner at Arnold & Porter LLP in Brussels. "The commission shouldn't focus on having the highest fine, but solving the problem. It's less spectacular, but it does a lot for consumers."

Consumers who buy personal computers will be given a choice of the 12 most widely used browsers to install in addition to, or instead of, Microsoft's, the European Commission said. The deal also allows computer makers to ship PCs without Internet Explorer.