Microsoft is cleaning up after Intel's mistakes, as the software company has rolled out new updates to counteract Intel's faulty patches for the central processing unit (CPU) security flaw.
That said, a disclaimer is in order since Microsoft's update only seeks to disable Intel's faulty update and not fix the actual problems brought by Meltdown and Spectre, the two names for the said security flaw. It can be recalled that Intel's patch traded security for stability and performance, which left a lot of users angry at the CPU manufacturer. This even led them to roll back some of the implemented fixes for Meltdown and Spectre issues.
Intel even recommended that some users stop implementing their update due to how buggy and detrimental it is for the performance and stability of computers.
Microsoft then had to introduce an out-of-band update which specifically disables Intel's Spectre variant 2 patch, which was causing problematic reboots for a lot of computers. It is worth noting that Spectre and Meltdown will render users' computers susceptible to espionage from hackers, meaning there is currently no stable fix for that, and users will have to be extra careful in their online tasks.
Microsoft then urges its users to manually download the patch from their website since it is up to the users whether they want to trade additional security for stability. Still, the tradeoff could be worth it since Microsoft has evaluated what costs might come with the system instability triggered by Intel's Spectre patch.
"Our own experience is that system instability can in some circumstances cause data loss or corruption," warned Microsoft. Right now though, there are still no known reports of hackers taking advantage of Meltdown and Spectre to invade user or even company computers, but rest assured, Intel is now hard at work in finding a working solution for the security flaws.
Meanwhile, Microsoft's disabling patch for Intel's update can be found here and should be installed at the users' own risk.
