Meltdown and Spectre
Image Courtesy: Gizmodo.com

An official confirmation came from Intel in which they admitted that Spectre variant 2 security update was causing random reboots problem on a number of hardware. In order to counter this faulty patch, one needs to block the patch in the first place. This is what Microsoft has decided and now they are blocking the security patch which was being offered by Intel.

Microsoft recently released KB4078130 update to disable Spectre variant 2 patches in Windows 10. If you ran out of data and cannot install it now, don’t be so disappoint because Microsoft has a solution for you. You can actually block the spectre variant 2 without installing KB4078130 on your Windows machine.

“As of January 25, there are no known reports to indicate that this Spectre variant 2 (CVE 2017-5715) has been used to attack customers. We recommend Windows customers, when appropriate, re-enable the mitigation against CVE-2017-5715 when Intel reports that this unpredictable system behaviour has been resolved for your device,” the firm says.

How to enable or disable Spectre Variant 2 mitigation in Windows 10 via registry settings

To enable Spectre Variant 2 patch in Windows 10:

  • Open Registry Editor and add the following values:
  • reg add “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management” /v FeatureSettingsOverride /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
  • reg add “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management” /v FeatureSettingsOverrideMask /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Similarly, to disable Spectre Variant 2 Patch in Windows 10

  • Access Registry Editor and change the values:
  • reg add “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management” /v FeatureSettingsOverride /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
  • reg add “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management” /v FeatureSettingsOverrideMask /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Mind you that KB4078130 update from Microsoft will not be available via regular Windows update. In this case you have to go to the Windows update catalog page to download and install this update. Only Windows 7, 8.1 and 10 is eligible to download this update.

About The Author

Rahul Naskar

Rahul Naskar was a former news editor at Windows Latest with over four years of experience in covering Windows news and articles focused on consumer technology. He has contributed his expertise to renowned websites such as Neowin, MSPoweruser, and XDA Developers. Beyond his passion for technology, Rahul has a keen interest in monitoring events that influence the future of geopolitics.