Microsoft installed a resource hungry search application on thousands of PCs Wednesday, bringing them to a standstill, according to The Register on Thursday. It happened even though administrators had configured their systems not to use the search tool.

The incident is the second in as many months where administrators thought they had locked down their machines and had obtained configuration control.

The problem starts when the search software starts to index the PC. Itis particularly bad when it happens on a server. "The admins at my place were in a flap this morning because Windows Desktop Search 3.01 had suddenly started installing itself on desktops throughout the company," one administrator said.

"Iim slightly pissed of [sic] at M$ right now," said another administrator of 3,000 PCs responding to the problem on the Internet. "All the clients have slowed to a crawl, and the file servers are having problems with the load."

Microsoft provided an unfathomable explanation of the problem.

"The revelation that Microsoft is pushing yet more installations not explicitly agreed to by administrators is not likely to sit well with this same vocal contingent," Dan Goodin reported.