TARFU: Call me a conspiracy nut, but this almost sounds like another Microsoft attempt to force users into "upgrading" (downgrading) to Windows 10.
Lexor: Yes,
it really feels like it, indeed. You can add another fact to it: last free upgrade option to Windows 10 (for Windows 7 users) ended at the end of 2017.... Can you see that pattern? :D
The truth is that a few my friends with older machines reported some slowdowns... it still needs to be evaluated more precisely.
misteryo: It's important to remember that these weaknesses have existed for a decade or more. It is not the case that we are suddenly unsafe.
Lexor: It is so wrong to think that way. Yes, they existed for many years, but there was no public knowledge about them. Now, these exploits are "documented", publicly revealed, so even script-kiddies will try to use them.
misteryo: And, reading the article you quoted, they say that only 1 of the 3 variants cause the slowdowns even on older machines. Do you understand what "variants" they are talking about?
Lexor: You have them explained in the table on top.
Ah, I see the "variants" listed now. Thanks.
Even though they are publicly known now, I have nowhere seen it stated that any old "script kiddie" can exploit these security weaknesses. You'd have to be targeted - and targeted by someone of high skill.
It is a real security exploit and needs to be patched, and the industry is working on patching it. The first patches are slowing some things down - but again it's mostly the cloud computing industry hurt by the slowdowns - private users are not really affected unless running their own server.
But being alarmist and conspiracy theorizing are not helpful.
