Spectre/Meltdown BIOS and CPU

[taichi]

I have a T60P and am wondering if I can update the CPU and BIOS to protect against Spectre and Meltdown.

I have the same question about a T61P.

thanks

[Cigarguy]

Who cares. Seriously, consider the age of these machine and the person using it.

This is one security flaw is that is seriously overblown. As of today, with regards to Spretre and Meltdown, there's still a lot of unknowns so rush fixes have a higher probability of causing more harm than good. These machines have been operating in this state for 10 years now. Another 5 years is NOT going to bring my world to an end.

Finally consider the user. Anyone of real substance who wants to know anything about me already knows everything about me. If the NSA, FSA, CIA, CSIS or anyone else wants to spend some time and effort to read my boring email, surf porn with me, or monitor my lame posts in TPF or various other forums, knock themselves out. Heck send me an email and I'll give them my password to my passwordless Windows installs. As for my finances, it's peanuts buying peanuts so if me paying my CC, paying utilities, or any other bills is that important to them, then have at it. In other words, there is NOTHING that I do on a computer, cellphone, laptop or cigar that is of interest to anyone. I'm no data service center, not a central Internet hub, not a famous politician, not a rockstar, not a drug lord, not a terrorist, not a corporation, not a person of interest. Nothing that I do on any of my machine/devices will affect the power grid, utilities or will cause a nuclear meltdown.

I do practice safe common sense computing. I have NOT had malware or a computer virus for years. Don't care for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc besides What's App so have fun mining whatever you want from me. Most importantly I sleep well and don't give a hoot about Spectre and Meltdown even though I've read lots on it and find it interesting as an intellectual curiosity. I'm not going to burn all my computing devices that I currently have and go spend $10,000 on the latest, greatest and safest thing to replace it. I've seen too many sunsets and smoked too many cigars to fall for that old trick anymore. If and when a fix comes down the pipeline I'll probably apply it. In the mean time I'm just going to carry on being boring old me.

[axur-delmeria]

IIRC no microcode updates for the Core 2 series exist at the moment.

[Cigarguy]

They are still identifying the security flaw and taking some time to find an effective fix without too many side effects. At least that's my optimistic view of what they are doing. At the microcode level, I would assume, it's not something one rushes into without proper thought and testing.

[axur-delmeria]

At the microcode level, I would assume, it's not something one rushes into without proper thought and testing.

Yeah, Intel actually withdrew a microcode update for Spectre because it caused too many problems.

[shawross]

At this stage Intel are saying that dual core cpus are not affected by spectre which is speculative execution and indirect branch prediction.

They will still be affected by Meltdown so you need the OS updates.

That should be good news really.

Interestingly the MS Windows 7 security updates don't seem to be protecting from Meltdown on 32 bit systems although MS claim they do.

Steve Gibson has provided a good tool for checking your system. https://www.grc.com/inspectre.htm

I side with "Cigarguy" that this is a bit over blown but it is important to keep your antivirus up to date and be careful what you click on.

[taichi]

Is the program freeware?

Putting aside CPU fixes, do either the T60P or T61P have BIOS updates that help protect against Meltdown?

Thanks for all the good answers.

[dr_st]

Possibly if you flash a corrupt BIOS that bricks the machine, you will be pretty safe against Meltdown. Or Spectre.

[RealBlackStuff]

Intel: Stop firmware patching until further notice
January 23, 2018

[shawross]

Is the program freeware?

Of course otherwise I wouldn't have downloaded it and only download from his respected website.


edit:

Putting aside CPU fixes, do either the T60P or T61P have BIOS updates that help protect against Meltdown?

To protect against Meltdown you only need the OS updates. For Windows 7 you can download the security only updates.

[taichi]

Thanks for that , shawross. Unfortunately I'm running Win 7 32 bit, the fix for which you said was ineffective.

[Thinkpad4by3]

Oh no? Do I need to update my Pentium 75Mhz 755CDV to get patched? (microcode update for FDIV??)

[shawross]

Thanks for that , shawross. Unfortunately I'm running Win 7 32 bit, the fix for which you said was ineffective

Actually it is the tech websites that say that the update is ineffective for Windows 7 32 bit.

Microsoft say if you apply the automatic updates for January then you should be right. I atm am going with Microsoft on this one and am bowing to their greater insight on the matter.

To detect if CPU's are at risk to Meltdown and Spectre is not an easy process.

I will install the manual security only update KB4056897 and if you want to be absolutely 100% sure then you should install the Security and Quality updates as this is what MS recommends but be warned that some of the detection systems might not detect the status correctly.

Try it and report back.

[mikemex]

Who cares. Seriously, consider the age of these machine and the person using it.

This is one security flaw is that is seriously overblown. As of today, with regards to Spretre and Meltdown, there's still a lot of unknowns so rush fixes have a higher probability of causing more harm than good. These machines have been operating in this state for 10 years now. Another 5 years is NOT going to bring my world to an end.

Finally consider the user. Anyone of real substance who wants to know anything about me already knows everything about me. If the NSA, FSA, CIA, CSIS or anyone else wants to spend some time and effort to read my boring email, surf porn with me, or monitor my lame posts in TPF or various other forums, knock themselves out. Heck send me an email and I'll give them my password to my passwordless Windows installs. As for my finances, it's peanuts buying peanuts so if me paying my CC, paying utilities, or any other bills is that important to them, then have at it. In other words, there is NOTHING that I do on a computer, cellphone, laptop or cigar that is of interest to anyone. I'm no data service center, not a central Internet hub, not a famous politician, not a rockstar, not a drug lord, not a terrorist, not a corporation, not a person of interest. Nothing that I do on any of my machine/devices will affect the power grid, utilities or will cause a nuclear meltdown.

I do practice safe common sense computing. I have NOT had malware or a computer virus for years. Don't care for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc besides What's App so have fun mining whatever you want from me. Most importantly I sleep well and don't give a hoot about Spectre and Meltdown even though I've read lots on it and find it interesting as an intellectual curiosity. I'm not going to burn all my computing devices that I currently have and go spend $10,000 on the latest, greatest and safest thing to replace it. I've seen too many sunsets and smoked too many cigars to fall for that old trick anymore. If and when a fix comes down the pipeline I'll probably apply it. In the mean time I'm just going to carry on being boring old me.

One of the best answers I've ever read. Reminds me of what my now deceased father used to tell me: the vanity of most people, and their inflated sense of self worth, is what really makes them vulnerable. They want security, not because they need it, but to feel special and valuable.