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The alteration comes after Mozilla chief executive John Lilly took the Cupertino-firm to task for using the iTunes updater to push Safari on Windows users, something he described as bordering on "malware distribution practices".

In the latest version of the software updater, software updates and new application are separated into two boxes, though the "install Safari" box, remains ticked.

Mozilla calls the changes "important but not sufficient".

"This is a good first step," says Asa Dotzler, Mozilla's director of community development. "Now Apple needs to stop checking the box for New Software items by default. With that change, I think I'd be pretty happy to let the Apple Software Update service back on my Windows machine."

Apple has refused to confirm the reasons behind the new split screen updater or whether it is likely to leave Safari unchecked in the future, saying only that the change helps customers identify between software updates and new applications.