You might think that progress is a universal and unquestionable good.

But perhaps you haven’t ever tried to install the latest version of Windows 10 and then watched disconsolately as your computer slowed to a miserable crawl.

Windows users have claimed that the latest software update has caused major problems with their system. The update is called Windows 10 KB4512941 and is alleged to make the CPU of victims’ computers run wild, meaning the whole system slows down, and stop them from using the Windows Search option near the start menu.

It appears the problem lies with Cortana – Microsoft’s voice assistant.

‘I just installed KB4512941 and now Windows Search is broke and Cortana process in taskmanager takes 90% CPU,’ a Windows user wrote on Reddit.

On Twitter, one gamer shared his pain after the update stopped his favourite game from working properly.

‘Very cool that Skyrim is broken,’ he wrote.

‘Yet another thing Windows updates has ruined for me. They’ve taken everything from me.’ Luckily, Microsoft has now turned out automatic updates meaning the software won’t be rammed onto your computer without express permission.

On Reddit, a user offered the following advice on how to deal with the problem:

‘Supposedly if you disable Cortana via registry or group policy this will happen.

I wanted to leave Cortana disabled so I just renamed the Cortana folder.

‘In Task Manager, right-click the task and select open file location, rename the Cortana folder and press enter.

You will get an error because Cortana is still running, you need to end the task and then quickly press the Try again button for the rename before the task restarts. ‘Note that this doesn’t fix search, it just stops the high CPU load.’