Despite being a much smaller event than in previous years, the Comdex conference still attracts the big names.

Microsoft chairman Mr Bill Gates kicked off a scaled-down Comdex technology convention in Las Vegas this week with a demonstration of future products that he said would improve customer security, reduce spam, and allow easy searches of what computer users have viewed but not stored.

But Hewlett-Packard (HP) stole the limelight from the Microsoft boss's 20th consecutive keynote speech at the annual convention - by announcing its entry into the photocopier market.

About 50,000 people attended a more narrowly focused event, well down from 125,000 last year, before Comdex's owner went through bankruptcy reorganisation.

Gone are most of the gadgets and the flash exhibitors that featured in previous years as the event concentrated on technology for business.

HP said it was entering the $24 billion (€20.2 billion) copier market with high-volume copiers and services it says can reduce costs by as much as 30 per cent for customers' imaging and printing functions.

The move by HP, which is already the largest maker of computer printers in the world, is aimed at taking a larger share of the overall market, and is the latest by HP's imaging and printing group to extend its lead into new markets.

By doing so, it is taking aim at entrenched copier makers Canon, Ricoh and Xerox, which have extensive relationships with and understanding of distribution channels.

The three black-and-white office copiers HP unveiled were expected to boost the company's revenue by more than $2 billion over three years, the company said.

The copiers could help the company weather a slump in its core computer business, which has lost $866 million in the past three years.

HP is the world's largest manufacturer of computer printers, and it holds 1.5 per cent of the desktop copier market through its all-in-one products that print, copy and scan documents.

The company hopes to expand on that base by offering industrial-strength machines that are the size of a small car and can copy up to 85 pages a minute.

Earlier, Mr Gates was typically upbeat in predicting that research at Microsoft and elsewhere in the industry would improve worker productivity and the quality of the consumer experience.

Microsoft has come under more fire than usual in recent months for security weaknesses in its flagship Windows operating system.

Those holes have allowed internet worms and viruses to disable millions of computers, causing billions of dollars in damage this year alone.

Mr Gates also touted and demonstrated the company's Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004, which was designed to catch more types of hazards at the entrance to business computer networks.

To be released next summer, the software starts at around $1,500 and gives systems administrators more tools for stopping invasive programs.

Mr Gates also said improved spam-filtering tools would be sold early next year to work with Microsoft Exchange, the software for server computers routing e-mail. Called SmartScreen, the program killed 80 per cent of spam in tests and adapts to customer feedback on what is unwanted e-mail, according to group product manager, Mr Kevin Doer.

Mr John Thompson, chief executive of internet security group Symantec, told conference delegates that innovation-stifling regulations may be imposed on the information technology industry unless computer and software makers improve information technology security.

Mr Thompson said the increasing severity of virus, worm and other attacks is making it crucial for software, hardware and other high-tech companies to work together to improve the security of networks and software.

"If we don't come together to secure the networked world, we're likely to see a decline in connected users, and that's not a good thing for the industry," Mr Thompson said.

"The alternative is that, if we as an industry don't solve the problem, you're likely to see a rash of government regulation crop up," he added.

Mr Gates also gave the first preview of a search mechanism being developed by Microsoft researchers and dubbed "What I've Seen".

That function looks for designated terms, not only in what a user has stored as a file on a personal computer, but also in what that person has read in e-mail or viewed while browsing the Web.

Other firms attending what has until recently been a "must" for anyone in the technology industry included Dell, Sun Microsystems and AT&T Wireless.