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, which in this case is degraded game performance after applying Microsoft's recent Windows 11 update. If you're not experiencing any gaming related issues after applying the update, there's no need (or benefit) to install the hotfix.

There's also no worry of FOMO (fear of missing out), as the same mitigation(s) included in hotfix releases get rolled into the next regular driver release anyway.

"These drivers are basically the same as the previous released version, with a small number of additional targeted fixes. The fixes that make it in are based in part on your feedback in the Driver Feedback threads and partly on how realistic it is for us to quickly address them. These fixes (and many more) will be incorporated into the next official driver release, at which time the hotfix driver will be taken down. To be sure, these hotfix drivers are beta, optional and provided as-is," NVIDIA explains.

As it applies here, the 581.94 hotfix is based on NVIDIA's 'Game Ready' 581.80 driver that released to the wild a little over two weeks ago. That means it's tuned for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. That driver release also fixed a few bugs, including one that was affecting performance in F1 25 when utilizing DLSS frame generation.

Head to NVIDIA's 581.94 download page if you want to give the hotfix a spin.