Microsoft offers free anti-infection fighters

Microsoft Corp., whose popular Windows software is a frequent target for Internet viruses, is offering a free security program to remove the most dangerous infections from computers.

The program, with monthly updates, is a step toward plans by Microsoft to sell full-blown antivirus software later this year.

Microsoft said Thursday that consumers could download the new security program from the company’s Web site — www.microsoft. com — starting Tuesday.

Finance

Mortgage rates drop

Mortgage rates across the country moved lower this week, marking a good start to a new year of home buying.

Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of mortgage rates released Thursday showed that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.77 percent for the week ending Thursday. That was down from last week’s 5.81 percent.

Retail

Same-store sales slip at Payless ShoeSource

Shoe retailer Payless ShoeSource Inc. on Thursday said December same-store sales dropped 3 percent.

For the five weeks ended Jan. 1, total sales fell 5.8 percent, to $284.2 million from $301.8 million.

The Topeka-based company said same-store sales fell 0.8 percent for the first 11 months of 2004, while total sales fell slightly to $2.63 billion from $2.65 billion.

Under a plan announced in August, the company in December closed 213 North American stores and transferred its Chilean business to investors in that country.

Shares of Payless closed Tuesday at $11.96, up 1 cent, on the New York Stock Exchange.

Leadership

Longtime Cessna chair retires after 30 years

After 30 years at Cessna Aircraft Co., Russ Meyer has stepped down as chairman.

Jack Pelton, president and chief executive officer of the Wichita-based company, took over as chairman Tuesday.

The company said Meyer, 72, would remain a director of fractional ownership company CitationShares and president of the Cessna Foundation.

Economy

K.C. Fed president foresees 2005 growth

The consumer-driven recovery of the U.S. economy should continue in 2005, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City said Thursday.

“The idea is that consumption, as a trigger to growth, will continue to be a very positive factor,” Thomas M. Hoenig said to members of the Central Exchange, a women’s educational and civic group.