Windows 11 Update Hurts Games But NVIDIA's GeForce Hotfix Driver Is The Cure

NVIDIA is pushing out an out-of-band GPU driver update to resolve an issue introduced with Microsoft's October 2025 update for Windows 11 (KB5066835). According to NVIDIA, the Windows 11 update can hamper performance in some unspecified games, even though it's not listed by Microsoft as one of the known issues. Despite Microsoft being silent on the issue, the fix is in.

GeForce owners who suspect they're suffering from lower framerates or other gaming performance issues after installing the KB5066835 update can grab and install NVIDIA's new 581.94 hotfix driver. Be advised that it requires a manual installation, as hotfix drivers are not doled out through the NVIDIA App, only regular driver releases.

"Lower performance may be observed in some games after updating to Windows 11 October 2025 KB5066835," the release notes state.

Hotfix releases are designed to mitigate specific issues in a more timely manner ...