Windows 10 update has Spectre fixes for Haswell, Broadwell and Skylake
The best way to get microcode updates for security flaws like Spectre is a firmware patch from a motherboard or system maker. Some manufacturers are laggging behind others when it comes to these kinds of patches, though. Microsoft has done its part in rolling out updated microcode to Windows users at the OS level, which is the next-best way to mitigate these types of problems. The software giant just released KB4091666 for Windows 10, an update that contains Intel-supplied microcode fixes for various Haswell, Broadwell, and Skylake CPUs. The patch is said to patch up Spectre Variant 2 ("Branch target injection") on affected systems.
Major hardware vendors have released firmware patches for many or most Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake motherboards and systems. Coverage of Skylake systems appears to have generally been good, but updates for ...