Microsoft is getting really desperate to get people to use its crappy Live Search service.

Truth be said no sensible person would use the junk Live Search when you have a far superior alternative in Google.

And Microsoft’s desperation shows in the numerous silly antics the company has been resorting to lately in a bid to gain traction for its down-in-the-gutter Live Search.

A fortnight back, Microsoft held out the blandishment of hard cash with its Live Search cashback program that will pay users who find and buy products using the stupid search service.

Today Microsoft announced a move to get its Live Search toolbar installed on all HP consumer PCs in the U.S. and Canada starting in January 2009.

This means that the default search engine setting in the browser on all HP consumer PCs will be set to Live Search.

How much Microsoft is paying HP to carry its garbage pail a.k.a Live Search has not been disclosed.

Trying to buy market share when you have a shoddy product like Live Search is not a recipe for success. It’s a sure-fire recipe for squandering shareholder money that could have been put to better use.

So if you are planning on buying on HP consumer PCs next year, that’s one extra work for you – changing the default search settings to Google or Yahoo (in addition to of course downloading the superior Firefox browser).

HP previously had a similar deal with Yahoo and Google a similar deal with Dell. But Yahoo and Google also have better products and higher market share.

According to comScore, in April 2008 Google sites had 61.8% of the U.S. search market followed by Yahoo with 20.4% and Microsoft with 9.1%.