Intel is going to open the doors for virus scanners to use integrated graphics chipsets for scanning instead of relying solely on the CPU. This could mean better performance and battery life.
Accelerated Memory Scanning
“With Accelerated Memory Scanning, the scanning is handled by Intel’s integrated graphics processor, enabling more scanning, while reducing the impact on performance and power consumption,” said Intel’s platform security division vice president Rick Echevarria. “Early benchmarking on Intel test systems show CPU utilization dropped from 20 percent to as little as 2 percent.”
Since typical machines do not fully utilize their onboard graphics chips, Intel is making a smart move to offload threat protection.
Supported Processors
The supported processors go back to the 6thgeneration of Intel, meaning that three generations of processors will allow the offloading of virus scanning. This should cover a very wide variety of computers that are already in the field.
Skylake, the earliest supported Intel processor, was launched in 2015. If you purchased your computer before then (or if your computer uses AMD instead of Intel), then you will not be able to use the new offloaded virus scanning feature.
Supported Virus Scanners
Microsoft’s Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) will be the first to offer this new feature… as soon as later this month. Intel has also been working with other antivirus developers to help facilitate the change. Keep an eye open for news from your preferred vendor.
Spectre Protection
Last month, Intel said that they are redesigning their processors to prevent another Spectre-like attack. Changes that Intel had to make to protect applications after Spectre cause a performance hit but updating the silicon itself will restore performance and provide better protection.
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