problem with admin panel search function

[taol]

All of a sudden I am getting the error below when i try to use the search function for the catalog via the admin panel. It was working fine the last time I used it (a few days ago) and the search function on the shopping cart side is working fine for the same search terms.

The only thing we have been doing since the last time it worked properly has been adding products (through the admin panel), changing the status of orders, and editing orders.

Any light anyone can shed on this would really be appreciated.

What I understand of the error is that somehow the query is not being posed to the database with the right settings or limits... but I'm not sure how that could have changed between Friday and now.

Many Thanks,
Jessie
an oscMax newbie who knows very little php and mySQL stuff

ERROR:

1104 - The SELECT would examine more than MAX_JOIN_SIZE rows; check your WHERE and use SET SQL_BIG_SELECTS=1 or SET SQL_MAX_JOIN_SIZE=# if the SELECT is okay

select p.products_ship_price, p.products_id, p.products_model, pd.products_name, p.products_quantity, p.products_image, p.products_price, p.products_date_added, p.products_last_modified, p.products_date_available, p.products_status, p2c.categories_id from products p, products_description pd, products_to_categories p2c where p.products_id = pd.products_id and pd.language_id = '1' and p.products_id = p2c.products_id and pd.products_name like '%sex for dummies%' or p.products_model like '%sex for dummies%' order by pd.products_name

[TEP STOP]