Redmond is looking into a fix for security patch it issued late last week. The patch — which was designed to stave off a buffer overrun that could allow attackers to elevate privilege permissions on users' machines — ended up slowing some users' systems to a crawl.

Various Windows enthusiast sites on the Web have noted the adverse performance impact caused by patch 811493 on their Windows XP Home, Professional and 64-bit systems.

Read Microsoft's Security Bulletin on Patch 811493

Usenet Thread on Problems With 811493

And the Inquirer's Report on the Slowdown Problems

Windows enthusiast Steven Bink included in his posting on the 811493 glitch a note from a Microsoft employee, in which she says the company is looking into the problem.

"Thank you for the info. I'm not sure yet what is conflicting with 811493. We currently have a group of developers working on the problem. We'll get this resolved as soon as possible. Sorry for the inconvenience," says the note from "Lucy" at Microsoft.