Windows Meltdown patch: No more security updates for your PC if your AV isn't compatible

Microsoft has updated its support notice to say that Windows computers will not receive any security updates at all until their AV software is certified compatible with the Spectre and Meltdown patches.

Windows PCs running anti-virus software that is incompatible with the recent Meltdown and Spectre patches will no longer receive any security updates, Microsoft has warned.

Spectre and Meltdown are design flaws in modern processors that could allow hackers to bypass system protections on a wide range of devices, allowing attackers to read sensitive information, such as passwords, from memory.

Microsoft has rolled out a series of patches for the flaws since January 3rd, but last week said these patches would not be pushed to computers running incompatible third-party AV.

Now Microsoft has updated its support notice to say that Windows computers will not receive any security updates at all until their AV software is certified compatible with the Spectre and Meltdown patches. Windows systems will not be certified as compatible until the AV vendor sets a specific key in the Windows registry.

"Customers will not receive the January 2018 security updates (or any subsequent security updates) and will not be protected from security vulnerabilities unless their antivirus software vendor sets the following registry key,"  says Microsoft.