NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Massachusetts said Friday it is appealing a federal judge's antitrust settlement with Microsoft Corp. as seven states dropped out of the lawsuit against the software maker.

Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly, speaking in a conference call with reporters, said the state filed the appeal early Friday afternoon despite getting no legal help from other states.

Massachusetts, one of nine states that refused to sign Microsoft Corp.'s antitrust settlement with the Justice Department that was approved by a federal judge last month, may be the only one to appeal. West Virginia has yet to announce its decision on the matter. But California, Connecticut, Iowa, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota, Utah and the District of Columbia said Friday they won't appeal.

"There was nothing in the deal with Justice that would change Microsoft's business practices in any way," Reilly said, adding the ruling by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly does not go far enough to protect consumers and help competition.

Shares of Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) were little changed in after-hours trading late Friday after falling 40 cents to $57.68 in the regular session. The software maker could not immediately be reached for comment.

Kollar-Kotelly accepted nearly all the provisions of the government's settlement with Microsoft.

In doing so, she rebuffed arguments by nine states and the District of Columbia that tougher sanctions were essential to restore competition in the computer industry. She concluded that some penalties proposed by those states would chiefly benefit the company's rivals.

"For most of our states, it is time to dedicate our resources to enforcement of the decree and the law," Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said Friday.

But Reilly criticized the settlement's effectiveness.

"There was nothing in the deal with justice that would change Microsoft business practices in any substantial way," said Reilly. "A vital part of our economy, high technology, is dominated by one company."  

-- From staff and wire reports