Microsoft Corp. is urging Windows users to uninstall the new Netscape 8 Web browser from their computers, saying it damages Microsoft's own Internet Explorer browser.

Microsoft's announcement on Friday came after a Microsoft technician's blog posting a day earlier that said Netscape's updated technology interfered with Internet Explorer's ability to display some Web pages.

Computer users who install Netscape 8 and then go back to using Internet Explorer for browsing may see some Web pages appear blank in Internet Explorer.

The problem particularly affects pages incorporating display technology such as that used for syndication-service feeds.

Spokespeople for America Online, Netscape's owner, told several trade publications on Friday that they were working on a repair for the problem and may be ready to release it soon. The company said, however, that the problem probably will affect only a small number of users in the interim.

Nevertheless, Microsoft issued its plea to uninstall Netscape because it believes that's the only way to address the problem until permanent repairs are available.

Users also must edit Windows' system registry after removing Netscape. Instructions on how to perform the edit are available at http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/05/25/421763.aspx.

Netscape 8, which is based on the Firefox browser developed by the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, employs some of the same features as Internet Explorer. The combination of technologies results from AOL's antitrust settlement with Microsoft in 2003.

The earliest versions of Netscape dominated all browser use until 1998, when Microsoft began packaging Internet Explorer with Windows 98 and included it with other software products.

Some of Netscape's original developers moved on to form the Mozilla Foundation. The current Netscape utilizes "rendering engines" available in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. Rendering engines format Web content for display in a browser window.

This latest issue with Netscape 8 is the browser's second major problem in two weeks. Just hours after its unveiling on May 19, developers withdrew it for repairs. They had based Netscape's architecture on a version of Firefox containing security flaws. Netscape 8 was rereleased within 24 hours.