Yahoo! fixes errant update

Yahoo! has fixed a bug in its newest version of Yahoo! Messenger which changed a user's mail preferences without his or her consent.

But the company has stopped prompting customers to update the software until it can sufficiently test that the fix works, according to a Yahoo! spokeswoman.

She said: "We're testing the fix until we can get it behaving the way we want it to behave."

Yahoo! Messenger 8.1, when it was released on Friday, automatically installed a Yahoo! Mail icon in a user's system tray and changed the user's default mail settings to Yahoo! Mail, said the spokeswoman.

Yahoo! had alerted 73 million users worldwide (or all those using its IM service before 2 November) to download the latest software version, which includes free or low-cost PC-to-PC calls among its chat features.

The company said the update increases stability and reliability, and improves security. The previous software contains a security flaw that could cause other applications such as Microsoft's IE to crash, or prompt users to be involuntarily logged out, the spokeswoman said. The new version, she said, fixes that issue and bundles in new features such as interoperability with Windows Live Messenger.

By default, the software also inserts the Yahoo! Toolbar into the user's web browser and changes the user's personalised homepage and search settings to Yahoo.com. In the original download alert, people could choose to customise the installation under "options" and then uncheck these default settings. What users couldn't change, however, was that the software was adding a Yahoo! Mail icon to the system tray and changed their default mail settings to Yahoo! Mail.

Yahoo!'s spokeswoman had said the engineering team was not aware of the Yahoo! Mail issue and was actively working on a fix. But she said the problem affected only a subset of existing users. She added that the company realises everyone might not want all of the features it offers and that's why users can customise their installation. "We have really made sure we've given people choice," she said.

Finally, for some people running Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0, Yahoo!'s changes will crash the browser application.

The spokeswoman said Messenger should be compatible with IE 7 and earlier versions but the company is investigating.

The company also added language to its terms of service related to a new auto-updater practice. In the default setting, Yahoo! will automatically download software to the client's PC whenever it has an update, and then alert the user when to install the software.

Stefanie Olsen writes for CNET News.com