A bad McAfee update on Wednesday created some problems for users running computers with Windows XP.

A bad McAfee update on Wednesday created some problems for users running computers with Windows XP.

The incorrect malware alert, issued today at 9am Eastern, resulted in computers with Windows XP Service Pack 3 to shut down and start on a continuous reboot cycle.

"McAfee is aware that a number of corporate customers may have incurred a false positive error due to incorrect malware alerts," McAfee said in a statement. "McAfee is working to address the problem with continuous customer communication and a new signature update. McAfee apologizes for any inconvenience to our customers."

The update has since been removed from McAfee download servers for corporate users, and issued a fix.

McAfee did not provide specific information on how many people were affected, though a reader from the University of New Hampshire said that the update has affected the campus' whole IT infrastructure. Twitter is also awash in updates from users twiddling their thumbs until the issue is fixed.

"Sittin at work ALL day while #mcAfee screws our computers," wrote one Colorado-based artist.

"Computers in the FLC lab were also frozen due to #McAfee #Antivirus acting up," wrote an Ohio teacher. "Had to cancel class or move rooms."