NVIDIA has released GeForce Hotfix Display Driver version 581.94 to provide an immediate solution following gaming performance drops in Windows 11. This step specifically addresses the significant performance degradation issues that arose after the installation of Windows 11’s October 2025 security update, KB5066835.

Good news for Windows 11 updates

The newly released 581.94 Hotfix driver is based on Game Ready Driver version 581.80. This driver only addresses frame rate drops observed after the aforementioned Windows update. It has been confirmed that these performance issues occurred on systems that updated to Windows 11 versions 24H2 or 25H2 and included the KB5066835 package.

User reports indicated significant frame rate drops and overall system slowdowns, particularly in certain games. NVIDIA, after investigating, has determined that the source of this problem is directly related to the October security update for Windows 11.

GeForce Hotfix 581.94 does not add any new gaming features or change the list of supported graphics cards. The driver provides a temporary solution that targets the performance drop caused by KB5066835. NVIDIA strongly recommends that users who have installed the relevant Windows 11 package and are experiencing frame rate drops install this update.

Gamers who are not experiencing performance issues can wait for the new Game Ready or Studio versions to be released in the future. Additionally, users experiencing issues beyond their graphics card should also install the relevant fixes from Microsoft.