How to Disable and Enable the Meltdown and Spectre Patches from Slowing Down Your PC

  

The Windows patches for Meltdown and Spectre will slow your PC down. On a newer PC running Windows 10, you probably won’t notice. But, on a PC with an older processor—especially if it’s running Windows 7 or 8—you may see a noticeable slowdown.

You can also disable the protection in the registry yourself, if you like. Run the commands under “To disable this fix” on this Microsoft support page. Restart your PC after changing the registry settings. If you change your mind and want to re-enable the protection in the future, run the instructions under “To enable the fix” on the Microsoft web page.

You can use batch files to enable or disable the fix.
Download

• disable_hotfix_Spectre_and_Meltdown.cmd
• disable_hotfix_Spectre.cmd
• enable_hotfix_Spectre_and_Meltdown.cmd
• enable_hotfix_Spectre.cmd

Execute the required batch file and restart Windows.

SolidWorks: Autotrace a Sketch Picture

Useful function, but many do not know about  its existence in Solidworks.

SOLIDWORKS AutoTrace

Sketch Picture includes the following capabilities:

• Insert pictures (.bmp, .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .tif, .tiff, .wmf, .png, .psd) on a sketch plane.
• Use pictures as an underlay for creating 2D sketches.
• Convert raster data to vector data using Autotrace.

A sketch picture will is inserted with its (0, 0) coordinate at the sketch origin.

You  can insert a sketch image of a .tiff file, with max resolution 4096 x 4096. Files that exceed this limit are divide in half until minimum dimensions meet the limit. For example If you insert a .tiff file that is 6000 x 4000, the file is reduced to 300 x 2000.

Autotrace is an add-in that enable you to convert images such as .jpegs and .bitmaps into sketch geometry. This add-in trace best with high-contrast images.

• Source image should be high resolution, with a larger of 300dpi. 
• Line art should be pen on paper, with precise contours and high contrast.
• Colors should be as uniform as possible within the area you select.

If Autotrace is enabled as an add-in, the next page of the Sketch Picture PropertyManager is  available. Click Tools > Add-Ins and select Autotrace in the dialog box.

Compatibility with Solidworks Autotrace

• You can not use animated formats e.g. animated gif or .avi files. You can not use still image formats such as .jpg, or .bmp, .gif.
• You can use Autotrace to part or assembly files (*.sldasm and *.sldprt), but not to drawing files (* .slddrw).

Performance of SOLIDWORKS after applying the patch Specter and Meltdown

DS SOLIDWORKS is performing extensive testing in an effort to determine the potential impact of any solutions that are issued to mitigate the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities.

The SOLIDWORKS Knowledgebase solution S-074167 discusses the potential effect on performance upon systems that have employed the Microsoft® Windows® Update security patch released on January 9th, 2018 that was intended to address the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities.

DS SOLIDWORKS intends to report the results of their ongoing tests at SOLIDWORKS World (Feb 4th – 7th 2018). The report will likely be relayed to reseller staff and further updates can be expected by our customers during the second week in February.

SOLIDWORKS Knowledgebase solution S-074167

SOLUTION ID: S-074167

• QUESTION: Why does my computer with an Intel® processor perform slower after installing a Windows® Update?
• ANSWER: A critical security fault was identified with all Intel® x86 and x64 processors. The security fault was fixed by a Microsoft® Windows® Update security patch released on January 9th, 2018.For information about this issue, follow these links:

• Understanding the performance impact of spectre and meltdown mitigations on windows systems
• Intel Firmware Vulnerability

You should also review the following Microsoft article:
Windows 10 update kb4056892

Article by Adam Harte-Maxwell, CSWE