There was a time when I bought something I owned it and could do anything I wanted with it. That time is clearly gone.

No one is forcing you to install the BIOS update.

I have been 'required' to install BIOS updates before. PS3 lost capability's at one point in an update and new games forced that update without mentioning it on the packaging.

"Note that Intel paired this with a bug fix for the freezing during Prime95 - if you want the bug fix, you have to let them lock down your clock. "

You are using an undocumented feature of the CPU, from Intel's point of view it's an unintended loophole.

Also you can try to separate the Prime95 bugfix from the clock lockdown. Good luck :-)

They could theoretically push the microcode out via Windows Update as well, which combined with Win10s enforced updates would make it difficult to avoid.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3064209

That's nasty - but isn't Microsoft to blame there?

to the geniuses downvoting... don't even know why i bother:

"While microcode can be updated through the BIOS, the Linux kernel is also able to apply these updates during boot."

-- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/microcode

now, do you update your kernel more or less often than the BIOS?

It's best to develop a decent level of ignorance when it comes to social media dynamics :)

> don't assume it will work or will stick around forever.

I agree with the first part, but no with the second. I don't like manufacturers deliberately breaking products which have already been sold, especially in cases when the sale wouldn't have happened if the product weren't better than specified.

Today it's Intel removing not advertised features, tomorrow it'll be Sony removing advertised ones (or had they already done that?)

Are you referencing the PS3 forcing the option to either keep the ability to run linux or stay on the PSN, or was there something else?

Yes, I meant Linux on PS3.

What if you went by a third-party review? IMO it should be illegal to remove functionality without changing the model number.

nah, they advertised Pentium G3258 as overclockable and later killed OC with microcode (on non Z boards)