Windows Spectre Patches Are Here, But You Might Want to Wait

https://www.howtogeek.com/346465/windows-spectre-patches-are-here-but-you-might-want-to-wait/

To fully protect your PC against Spectre, you need updated Intel CPU microcode. This is normally provided by your PC manufacturer via a UEFI firmware update, but Microsoft now offers an optional patch with the new microcode.

We think most people should wait for their PC manufacturers to roll out this update rather than rush to install Microsoft’s patch. But, if you’re particularly concerned about Spectre attacks, you can get the updated microcode from Microsoft even if your PC manufacturer has no plans to release it. Microsoft’s patch is only available for Windows 10.

Spectre and Meltdown were disclosed at the same time, so this can be a bit confusing. The original Windows patch protected against the Meltdown attack, but required a CPU microcode update from Intel to fully protect against Spectre. Technically, the microcode update we’re talking about here protects against Spectre Variant 2, “Branch Target Injection.”

You can check if your PC is protected against Spectre with the Gibson Research Corporation’s InSpectre tool. Assuming you haven’t installed a UEFI firmware update from your computer’s manufacturer—or your motherboard’s manufacturer, if you built your own computer—you’ll see that your computer is vulnerable to Spectre. If you do have those patches installed already, this tool shows how much the patches are affecting your PC’s performance.


I ran the Inspectre tool and I'm protected. I'm guessing that's because I'm always doing beta testing for MS, and I'm running Windows 10 x64 Build 17623 (Skip Ahead/RS5).