People self-diagnosing their aches and pains online are fuelling anxiety to the point where they are making themselves more ill, according to a recent study by a software giant.

Microsoft researchers carried out the study, dubbing the phenomenon "cyberchondria" due to how unfounded concerns regarding common symptoms can agitate people into believing the worst upon basic search results from the likes of Google and other associated literature on the internet.

Researchers studied the health-related searches of 515 individuals which showed that many innocuous symptoms could escalate into worse diagnoses with a small amount of research.

The report continued: "The web has the potential to increase the anxieties of people who have little or no medical training, especially when web search is employed as a diagnostic procedure."

Microsoft created its computer science research sector in 1991, now employing "world-renowned scientists" to look into important issues that surrounds the company's production of software, the organisation said.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent).