NEW YORK (AP) - America Online Inc. is packaging new features to combat viruses, spam and spyware in response to growing online security threats.

Subscribers will be able to get the free tools through a software download, known as AOL 9.0 Security Edition and available beginning Thursday.

"More often than not when a member faces a performance issue with the computer, they think they just have a performance problem, but what they really have is a virus or spyware," said Danny Krifcher, executive vice president for the AOL service.