New Intel CPU Bugs Is A Nightmare For All PC Users, Fix Could Worsen Performance

Intel is not having a very good start of 2018 and neither are the hundreds of millions of PC users. A recently discovered pair of vulnerabilities in the company’s CPU makes it possible for hackers to steal information from practically every single PC made in the last 10 years. Making this problem even worse is that the planned fix might make CPU performance up to 30 percent worse.

The two vulnerabilities, which are called Meltdown and Spectre, can apparently allow hackers to steal sensitive details such as passwords and documents from users’ PCs, PC World reports. It’s an incredibly serious flaw that a majority of laptops and computers all over the world. Fortunately, there are some steps that users can take to make sure that they are protected from hacking via these vulnerabilities.

Unfortunately, many of these steps involve updating the computer’s operating system and firmware, which can come with its own issues that will be discussed later on. The rest involves updating browsers and antivirus software.

Since the latter two items are largely self-explanatory, the OS and firmware updates should get the bulk of users’ attention. While they may seem simple steps, following up on them can result in CPU performance taking a hit, Gamespot reports.

Now, it’s worth noting that the slowdowns will depend on the tasks being performed, with the worst examples seeing a 30 percent drop in performance. Among those most concerned about the problem were gamers, but according to benchmarks, it seems the hit is minimal in comparison.

This particular flaw only affects Intel users, as well. AMD already issued its own statement saying that the security flaw does not apply to its own CPUs. As such, there is no need for gamers sporting the Intel product’s chips to make any kind of changes.