one of the listed IAPs by clicking on the appropriate entry, the user would be connected to an IAP-maintained server that would automatically configure the user's PC to work properly with the IAP service. 254.  For several reasons, IAPs viewed inclusion in the Windows 95 Referral Server as a valuable form of promotion. First, the ICW icon appeared prominently on the desktop of every PC running Windows 95 (from OSR 2 onwards), which, by the middle of 1996, accounted for the vast majority of all new PCs being shipped. Because Microsoft prohibited OEMs from removing any of the icons that it placed on the Windows desktop, IAPs knew that the ICW would confront all users of Windows 95 PCs the first time they turned on their systems. Second, inclusion in the Referral Server was a highly focused form of promotion, because the IAP list provided by the Referral Server presented itself to users who had already indicated some interest in signing up for Internet access. Third, the easy-to-use features of the ICW heightened the probability that a user who started using the program would complete the process of subscribing to an IAP. Finally, inclusion in the Referral Server was a relatively inexpensive means of distribution because, unlike "carpet bombing" with CD-ROMs, it did not require the production and dissemination of anything tangible. 255.  Despite the value that IAPs attached to placement in the Windows 95 Referral Server, Microsoft elected to charge those that it granted placement a low bounty price