Microsoft releases emergency Windows update to hamstring earlier 'Spectre' defense
Intel urged customers not to deploy firmware updates aimed at the Spectre and Meltdown flaws because the updates caused system instability; Microsoft reacted with its own release – KB4078130 – on Saturday. Microsoft on Saturday issued an out-of-band Windows security update that disabled a patch the company released earlier this month to protect personal computers from possible attacks leveraging one of the "Spectre" vulnerabilities. The weekend release was Microsoft's response to an announcement seven days ago by Intel, which told customers of all stripes - from computer makers to end users - to stop deploying the firmware updates it had offered after disclosures of the Spectre and Meltdown flaws. According to Intel, the new firmware "may introduce [a] higher-than-expected [number of] reboots and other unpredictable system behavior" on Broadwell and Haswell processors. Those silicon families were introduced in 2015 and 2013, respectively. [ Further re