14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has announced that it removed the Windows antivirus restriction that blocked some computers running incompatible security software from receiving updates.
This behavior was introduced with the January security updates when the company rolled out Meltdown and Spectre mitigations and was maintained for the February 2018 Patch Tuesday cycle.
According to this policy, Windows was running a series of antivirus compatibility checks before getting updates. A special registry key was required in order to receive updates, and in case this setting was missing, computers were left unpatched.
“Some AV products had created compatibility issues with the Windows security updates, by making unsupported calls into the kernel memory,” Microsoft explains.
“Based on our analysis of available data, we are now lifting the AV compatibility check for the March Windows security updates for supported Windows 10 devices via Windows Update. This change will expand the breadth of Windows 10 devices offered cumulative Windows security updates, including software protections for Spectre and Meltdown.”
Further checks to still be conducted
While the restriction is no longer in place, Microsoft says further compatibility checks would continue to be made, most likely before Patch Tuesday rollouts, to determine whether computers could experience any issues or not.
At this point, the majority of antivirus products are said to be compatible with Windows 10, so no such issue should occur, though the changes that Microsoft is making with security updates could make the checks necessary once again.
The upcoming release of Windows 10 Redstone 4 is one particular example when security products could cause issues. Previous OS releases have also been impacted by compatibility issues with security software, and this temporary policy that Microsoft removed this month is expected to improve the experience when the Redstone 4 goes live next month.
Microsoft says that for more information on any possible compatibility issues, users should contact their antivirus provider.