Brussels, Sep 13 (DPA) The European Commission on Tuesday warned Microsoft against bundling security upgrades into its new Windows Vista operating system.

Such a move would hamper competition in the market, a commission spokespersons told reporters, adding that existing competition and diversity were the best way of improving software security.

"Diversity and innovation could be at risk if Microsoft were allowed to foreclose the existing competition in computer security markets ... by bundling its own security products into its dominant operating system," the spokesperson said.

The computer firm on Tuesday said that it hopes the EU executive will not require the removal of important security features for the Vista operating system.

The commission in July slapped an unprecedented euro 280.5 million fine ($357 million) on Microsoft for breaching EU's anti-trust rules and threatened the company with further daily penalties worth euro 3 million.