If you\u2019ve noticed any unexpected reboots or PC instability as a result of the recent Spectre patches, there\u2019s a solution: Microsoft has issued an emergency Windows patch that rolls back the recent Spectre mitigations.<\/p>\n
Confused? It\u2019s a bit complicated. After the intial Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilites were disclosed, both Intel and Microsoft hustled out patches to mitigate the problem. Unfortunately, Intel\u2019s latest microcode updates\u2014and the BIOS updates from PC makers based upon them\u2014were themselves buggy, causing instability, reboots, and data loss in some PCs.<\/p>\n
Microsoft\u2019s latest patch (KB4078130) allows people with affected systems to download the patch via the Microsoft Update Catalog, which disables the mitigations for the \u201cSpectre variant 2.\u201d<\/p>\n
Note that the patch notes specifically state that you should run this patch \u201cif you are running an impacted device\u201d (emphasis ours). In other words, if your system is working normally, don\u2019t bother downloading this patch. This is what Microsoft calls an \u201cout of band\u201d patch, and it doesn\u2019t appear that it will be made available via Windows Update, either.<\/p>\n
Why should you consider it? Intel has warned previously that the faulty patch can sometimes cause data loss and corruption, and Microsoft is saying the same: \u201cOur own experience is that system instability can in some circumstances cause data loss or corruption,\u201d the patch notes state.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s another wrinkle, though. As part of the patch, Microsoft is allowing users to edit the Windows registry to toggle the mitigations on or off. (Instructions are here.) It\u2019s possible to toggle Microsoft\u2019s patch off, and then, when Intel solves its own patching problem, re-enable it. That scenario is actually what Microsoft recommends\u2014again, only if you\u2019ve noticed system instability and want to take action against it.<\/p>\n
Toggling the mitigations on and off is also a feature of the latest InSpectre utility.<\/p>\n
What should you do? There\u2019s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. But we can tell you what we\u2019re doing: if a PC is working as expected, we\u2019re leaving it patched and in place. If you\u2019re backing up your data (to the cloud or an external drive) chances are your most crucial data will be saved in case your system goes down unexpectedly. Obviously, install Microsoft\u2019s emergency Windows patch if you\u2019re running into system issues. There\u2019s no perfect solution\u2014if you\u2019re more paranoid than we are, feel free to deploy the patch even if your PC hasn\u2019t hiccuped.<\/p>\n
Good luck, and be sure to check out PCWorld\u2019s guide on how to protect your PC against Meltdown and Spectre. Operating system updates are just one part of it.<\/p>\n
As Bleeping Computer noted, system makers such as Dell and HP also advise rolling back their own BIOS patches to an earlier version, which they\u2019re redeployed. It\u2019s all horrendously confusing for consumers and IT organizations alike. Fortunately, at least, there haven\u2019t been any public cases of these vulnerabilities being exploited, Microsoft says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you\u2019ve noticed any unexpected reboots or PC instability as a result of the recent Spectre patches, there\u2019s a solution: Microsoft has issued an emergency Windows patch that rolls back the recent Spectre mitigations. Confused? It\u2019s a bit complicated. After the intial Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilites were disclosed, both Intel and Microsoft hustled out patches […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.notebookbattery.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1606"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.notebookbattery.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.notebookbattery.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.notebookbattery.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.notebookbattery.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.notebookbattery.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1606\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.notebookbattery.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.notebookbattery.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.notebookbattery.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}