Microsoft this week pushed out a patch to resolve a flaw in its patching system.

The update resolves a nagging issue that meant some PCs slowed to a crawl when either Microsoft Update or Windows Update carried out scans prior to downloads.

Systems of the problem included the process svchost consuming the majority of CPU processing power, leaving systems slow and unresponsive. Even users who haven't experienced the problem are encouraged to apply the update, which Microsoft reckons should have no ill effects.

"I want to note that this update will install correctly even if you're experiencing this issue," said Christopher Budd, Microsoft security program manager, in a posting to the software giant's Security Response Centre Blog. "However, this issue may prevent you from installing other updates (including security updates) until you apply this new update, so we encourage customers to apply this right away."

In other Microsoft-related security news, Microsoft-published technology designed to allow administrators to place restrictions on opening Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007 files was recognised as malformed and therefore potentially harbouring malicious code. ®

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