LandzDown Forum

Correct, Pete, not being told to disable but provided that option -- an option that people may take merely because it is provided by the well-known Steve Gibson's tool!

InSpectre is giving me conflicting information:

This system's Intel processor does NOT provide high-performance protection from the Meltdown vulnerability...

This system's Intel processor provides high-performance protection from the Meltdown vulnerability, but this version of Windows is not taking advantage of those features to offer that protection without performance penalties.

(Either way, there's agreement that performance is slower, but for contradictory reasons... so which is it???)

InSpectre Release History

    Release #1 — Initial release:
    The first release was triggering false-positive warnings from 3rd-party anti-virus scanners. This was probably due to a registry key the application uses to enable/disable the Meltdown and Spectre protections. Also, the language used in one of the text-explainers was confusing and self-contradictory.

    Release #2 — Second try:
    This second release hides its use of the registry key that was upsetting so many anti-virus scanners. A pass through Virus Total shows that made a huge difference. And that confusing paragraph was rewritten into two, which are now presented more correctly. Let's see how this second try fares.


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Reviews of InSpectre

Martin Brinkmann:   https://www.ghacks.net/2018/01/16/gibson-releases-inspectre-vulnerability-and-performance-checker/

Woody Leonhard:  https://www.computerworld.com/article/3248730/microsoft-windows/inspectre-see-whether-your-pcs-protected-from-meltdown-and-spectre.html

Any noticeable performance hit will be limited to a few relatively unusual (for most 'ordinary' users) workflow types, and then often only on those PCs utilising eg. high-end NVME drives; take claims like that with a pinch of salt and insert the word 'potential' in there.

Strange.  Windows Defender Smart Screen labeled it as unsafe on my desktop but not on my laptop.

Edit note:  Need more coffee.  I was using Microsoft Edge on the desktop.  No problem with Pale Moon.

Same thing, but Firefox rather than Pale Moon.

Not surprised about SmartScreen (in IE/Edge)... it's notorious for intercepting new/"unknown" programs.

And I had two different experiences - the first wouldn't let me override and download it (no option provided at all). Attempted download again and a different experience allowing me to override, followed by Windows Defender picking it off as unsafe during its check (Edge calling WD for a "security scan"). Suppose these are great experiences if the file is truly malware; crazy experiences if it's not.

Solving it through the purchase of a bunch of ESET licenses.

InSpectre Release History

    Release #1 — Initial release:
    The first release was triggering false-positive warnings from 3rd-party anti-virus scanners. This was probably due to a registry key the application uses to enable/disable the Meltdown and Spectre protections. Also, the language used in one of the text-explainers was confusing and self-contradictory.

    Release #2 — Second try:
    This second release hides its use of the registry key that was upsetting so many anti-virus scanners. A pass through Virus Total shows that made a huge difference. And that confusing paragraph was rewritten into two, which are now presented more correctly. Let's see how this second try fares.

Wonder which AV programs those were. If they picked it up before, and don't pick it up now that the registry key use is "hid[den]", sounds like an AV fail. You'd think/hope the AV would see through the "hides" part.

Any noticeable performance hit will be limited to a few relatively unusual (for most 'ordinary' users) workflow types, and then often only on those PCs utilising eg. high-end NVME drives; take claims like that with a pinch of salt and insert the word 'potential' in there.

I mine cryptocurrency, but I don't have a fix yet for those systems to see if there's a major hit or not.

Two more releases of InSpectre:

Release #3 — Raw Technical Data Display:
InSpectre's more technically inclined users have asked for more information about how InSpectre makes its decisions. Non-Windows users have also asked for that information so that InSpector could be run on Linux and MacOS machines (under WINE) to check the non-Windows machine's CPU support. As shown [see attached image], InSpectre release #3 adds a “Show Technical Details” item in the system control menu at the upper-left corner of the app. Click on the little “Spectre” icon and select the “Show Tech Details” item to display the raw data obtained by InSpector's analysis of its operating environment.

Release #4 — Silent System Probe Option:
When InSpectre is launched with the string “probe” in its command line, its Windows user interface will be suppressed. The application will assess its hosting system's status, then immediately terminate itself returning a decimal exitcode which encodes eight “trouble bits” itemizing trouble. Therefore, an exitcode of zero (0) is returned only by a fully secure system.

Decimal
Value   Trouble Itemization
1         OS is not aware of the Meltdown vulnerability
2         OS is not aware of the Spectre vulnerability
4         The system is vulnerable to Meltdown
8         The system is vulnerable to Spectre
16        CPU does not support Spectre (microcode not updated)
32        CPU does not support low-overhead Meltdown protection
64        Meltdown protection disabled by registry setting
128      Spectre protection disabled by registry setting
The table above can be used to decompose InSpectre's probe-mode exitcode to itemize the system's trouble.

Root Cause of Reboot Issue Identified; Updated Guidance for Customers and Partners:

As we start the week, I want to provide an update on the reboot issues we reported Jan. 11. We  have now identified the root cause for Broadwell and Haswell platforms,  and made good progress in developing a solution to address it. Over the  weekend, we began rolling out an early version of the updated solution  to industry partners for testing, and we will make a final release  available once that testing has been completed.

Based on this, we are updating our guidance for customers and partners:

• We recommend that OEMs, cloud service providers, system  manufacturers, software vendors and end users stop deployment of current  versions, as they may introduce higher than expected reboots and other  unpredictable system behavior. For the full list of platforms, see the Intel.com Security Center site.
  
• We ask that our industry partners focus efforts on testing early  versions of the updated solution so we can accelerate its release. We  expect to share more details on timing later this week.
• We continue to urge all customers to vigilantly maintain security best practice and for consumers to keep systems up-to-date.

We are constantly talking about computer systems, but the most used devices older cellphones are going to be hung out to dry.

Anything older than, a iPhone 5S. That means the the 5 and 5C users and anything before isn't secure.

I love the android most useless fragmented software ever released and usually not supported. They put it on manufactures and providers to fix most problems, which usually never happens.

"As for Android, Google claims that the latest version of its software is safe from Spectre, but if your device is too old to get the update you’re basically on your own."

https://lifehacker.com/whats-going-on-with-the-spectre-and-meltdown-patches-1822128503

Google will definitely hang you out to dry. Only the latest version!!!