Microsoft Corp. has had "preliminary talks" with regulators in Europe over antitrust issues with high hopes of settling two probes into whether the Microsoft giant abused its monopoly status in Europe.

Regulators are probing two issues; one into Microsoft's Internet browser and second probe is going into its word processing and spreadsheet software.

European Union officials earlier found that the inclusion of a browser in the operating system violated European antitrust law.

Reports signify that Microsoft wants to resolve the cases before EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes leaves his office at the end of 2009.

Office investigation was initiated in January 2008, when a trade association of Microsoft's competitors filed a complaint against Microsoft.

Earlier in June, Microsoft planned to roll out Windows 7 without Internet Explorer in Europe. But the move was not welcomed by the Commission as that move of the software giant offered less choice than anticipated.