Microsoft New Zealand says it is fielding a number of calls after a faulty anti-virus update paralysed computers running the latest version of its XP operating system.
The upgrade was pushed overnight on Wednesday by software company McAfee.
However, once upgraded, the third party software wrongly identified a critical system file as a potential virus. Affected computers then repeatedly rebooted themselves.
A spokesperson for Microsoft in New Zealand, Mark Rees, says the fault is concerning, however Microsoft has good relationship with McAfee and it will do everything it can to help it.
Mr Rees says only computers running both Windows XP and the McAfee software were affected.
Police, Parliamentary Services and District Health Boards contacted by Radio New Zealand say they were not affected.
Nearly one third of Television New Zealand's computers were affected by the glitch. APN, which publishes The New Zealand Herald, was also affected.
