Microsoft has defended its handling of the "Blaster" crisis and says it expects to defeat an attack on its Web site.

Hundreds of thousands of users worldwide have been hit by the worm which shuts down Internet browsers. Now it is programmed to attack Microsoft's Web site.

Having lodged into computers, the worm, called "MSBlaster" or "LoveSAN," deposits a program called a trojan onto the computer's hard disc.

On Saturday, that program is due to send data to windowsupdate.microsoft.com, the site Microsoft uses for updates of its Windows operating system that runs most of the world's computers.

The hackers who unleashed the worm hope to knock Microsoft's site offline.

Stuart Okin, chief security strategist for Microsoft UK, said he expected the attack to fail, but added: "We have contingency plans in place to make sure we can keep up and running if there's an issue."

The worm took advantage of a flaw in Microsoft's security to cause disruption in homes and offices this week.

"We knew this was an issue about a month ago," Okin told CNN. "We discovered the vulnerability. We knew it was only a matter of time before someone came out with a worm or virus."

Okin said a patch that can be downloaded to stop the worm was developed in time and many customers used it. Some had their anti-virus software updated automatically.

But many thousands of other customers did not know of the danger or how to stop it until it was too late.

"You do your best to get the communication out there and wave the flag," said Okin.

He said 40 million users had downloaded the patch over the last two weeks and urged others to do the same via the updates site -- the same one the hackers want to bring down.

The FBI is investigating the source of the worm, but the culprit is not known.

According to security firm TrendMicro, the worm's text includes the message: "I just want to say LOVE YOU SAN!! Billy Gates why do you make this possible? Stop making money and fix your software!!"

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