Security expert Steve Gibson has done it again. His latest utility, InSpectre, can check your PC to see whether it is adequately protected from the recent Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities.
You need this. So head on over to Steve’s GRC website and download InSpectre.
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Put simply, InSpectre does three things: It determines whether your PC is vulnerable to Meltdown and Spectre. It checks to see what the performance impact is from the fixes you have installed. And it lets you toggle off those fixes, on the fly, if you need the full performance of your PC.
I ran InSpectre on my current desktop PC, an HP EliteOne all-in-one, and found that I was protected against Meltdown but not Spectre. And that my performance was “good,” which makes sense since I’m running the latest OS version on recent Intel hardware.
Steve’s utility noted that my vulnerability to Spectre was due to my BIOS/firmware not being updated.
So I checked with the HP Support Assistant and, sure enough, there was a BIOS update.
So I installed it, rebooted, and checked with InSpectre again. And now my PC is secure.
Get this now. And follow its advice. Seriously.
skane2600
<p>Isn't Gibson a rather controversial figure in the tech community?</p>
Stooks
<p>Personally I would not install any of these patches for a while. </p><p><br></p><p>First there is no known threat. Even if there is all it could do is peak into those pipelines on the CPU to get bits of information. It would take a long time to MAYBE find some info that is worth anything, days and days.</p><p><br></p><p>Also over on Neowin right now is post about how these BIOS updates from some vendors are causing un-expected reboots after the updates.</p><p><br></p><p>Let AV software block the threats, if and when the come out. Let Intel and the PC maker come out with GOOD updates via a BIOS updates because this a is a HARDWARE issue. Personally avoid the Microsoft updates as long as possible as the have the potential to kill performance or if you have a AMD box, brick it.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>