Microsoft submits test of Vista

Microsoft Corp. has submitted a test version of its Windows Vista operating system with features that make it easier to use non-Microsoft programs to search PC hard drives, according to a report issued Friday by the Justice Department.

The report, a regular update on Microsoft’s compliance with a 2002 antitrust settlement, said the Redmond, Wash.-based company was on schedule in other areas, including the massive task of rewriting documentation it provides to licensees of its technology.

Microsoft agreed to make changes to Vista in response to antitrust complaints from Google Inc., which in June said Microsoft’s hard-drive search program was interfering with Google’s own tool.

The Justice Department said preliminary testing shows the new version, which will let Vista users set a competing search program as their default and see it in the Windows Start menu, works as expected. The changes will be available in Service Pack 1, a package of upgrades and fixes expected in the first quarter of 2008, the department said.

Ameriquest Mortgage Co., once the nation’s largest subprime lender, has stopped taking applications, and its parent company has sold its remaining mortgage assets and service business to Citigroup Inc., the company said Friday.

Citigroup has agreed to buy the wholesale mortgage origination and servicing assets of ACC Capital Holdings. ACC’s only other holding was Ameriquest, which is being shut down.

The acquisition includes servicing rights for $45 billion worth of loans and is expected to close today. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Although Citigroup is not buying Ameriquest, ACC disclosed Friday that Ameriquest had stopped taking applications on Aug. 1 and would close the business entirely.

Kroger Co. said Friday the grocery chain was recalling its store-brand “Southern-Style” and “Mustard” potato salads because of concerns they have been tainted with E. coli bacteria, according to state agricultural officials.

Kroger spokeswoman Meghan Glynn said potato salads sold in Ralphs, Fred Meyer and QFC stores weren’t affected.