FEBRUARY 6, 2026 article reports that Microsoft’s January Windows 11 cumulative updates have caused a range of issues, some of which persist despite later patches. Depending on the game, frame rates may drop by 15 to 20 FPS, with occasional black screens or visual artefacts observed by gamers, and the instability is said to originate in the January update rather than primarily in NVIDIA’s drivers.
Several gamers have reported that removing update KB5074109 restores performance to prior levels without reinstalling or updating graphics drivers, and the manufacturer has signalled that the responsibility lies with Microsoft. According to NVIDIA’s official forums, the investigation is ongoing but prevailing evidence points to KB5074109 as the cause of the performance degradation.
NVIDIA has not offered a formal workaround, but affected users may try installing the latest optional updates or manually uninstall KB5074109; if the optional patch fixes the issue, users are advised to keep the January update because it contains important security fixes. Removing it could leave Windows 11 susceptible to exploitation.