Recent Windows 10 security update borks gaming with unstable frame rates, boot loops,...

[nanoguy]

Facepalm: If you haven't installed the latest monthly cumulative patch for Windows 10, you may want to pause all updates for a few weeks. Microsoft may have released a large number of important security fixes for Windows and other Microsoft software products but has also broken a few other things, which may worsen your gaming experience.

Every time Microsoft releases another Windows 10 update, you can almost expect that something will go wrong, given the company's poor track record over the last few years. In March, this meant that many people found their printers mysteriously refusing to work correctly with their up-to-date system. Luckily, the company fixed the issue within a week via an "optional quality update."

This month, Patch Tuesday brought a Windows 10 update that meant to fix at least 110 security issues affecting Windows, Office, and Microsoft Exchange Server—the latter of which saw several large-scale cyberattacks over the last few months. However, some gamers are experiencing issues first observed with a minor update (KB5000842) at the end of March.

At this point, it's not clear whether these issues are tied to specific hardware configurations. However, most people complained of unstable framerates, stutter, and even complete system crashes when playing games like Doom Eternal, Red Dead Redemption 2, Overwatch, and Call of Duty: Warzone. Others experienced issues with V-Sync and running Discord in the background while gaming.

You may also be among the unlucky few Surface Pro 7 and Surface Studio 2 owners who saw the update failing to install even after several tries, throwing error codes 0x800f0984 and 0x800f081f. Others saw a BSOD immediately after the update finished installing, only to be greeted by a boot loop. If you're experiencing DNS issues, the folks at Dentrix may have a temporary workaround.

Uninstalling the update from the appropriate section in the Control Panel or restoring your system to an earlier point in time will help with most cases. If you have yet to install the update, waiting for a fix may be worth the risk of putting off the latest security patches.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/89362-recent-windows-10-security-update-borks-gaming-unstable.html

 

[envirovore]

I must be one of the fringe weirdos.
Yet to have any sort of issue due to Windows 10 of any sort, and I'm in the beta ring.

The one issue I did have was due to my own making (putzing about with virtual memory and indexing and borked it when it came to reading a drive properly, which I've managed to resolve).

Figured I'd get that in before the "windows sucks" crowd.

 

[terzaerian]

The parade of shitty, broken patches would be a lot more tolerable if they at least weren't mandatory without either having Windows Pro or playing 4D chess against the layered defenses in the registry and services Redmond keeps building to insure updates are automatic.

 

[brucek]

There's always some number of people having a PC problem at any point in time. Some of them may even be correct that there's some sort of interaction with a recent windows patch involved. That does not mean that all or most or even many Windows users will experience any trouble. My personal experience is that these reports are overhyped, at least as far as my own systems go.

Sometimes I wonder if these rumors are started by hackers who want to keep their security holes open just a little while longer while they work on finding the next exploit.

 

[BSim500]

"Problems range from Vsync issues to games stuttering, frames dropping, and in some cases frequent BSOD crashes. It’s far from an isolated incident, with many comments identifying that the Windows 10 update is the culprit, and it doesn’t look like you’ll be safe on either side of the colour spectrum, either. Team green, blue, and red are all affected with a wide range of Nvidia and AMD graphics cards and Intel and AMD CPUs caught up in the mix." (link)

Microsoft need to do one thing - release a consumer equivalent of Enterprise LTSC (call it "W10 Ultimate" if you want) and then leave it the f***k alone for at least 5 years... Now cue the resident "But... but... but I haven't seen any problems personally, therefore anyone who does is a MS hater!" fanboy mob here...

 

[Burty117]

Where I work, we look after over 23 thousand endpoints, these range from Server 2008 all the way up to Windows 10 of which, makes up the vast majority of those endpoints.

We don't run into many updates that actually break anything. Updates that have broken a large number of Windows 10 devices (Audio driver for certain HP laptops or an update that bluescreened anything with sophos installed as examples) never got much attention, yet some Reddit threads of some random's get a load of attention and they don't even know what update is causing them the problems, if it's even anything to do with the updates at all.

 

[envirovore]

I'm installing the next beta ring update now (KB5001391)
Send thoughts and prayers.

 

[Dimitriid]

"Problems range from Vsync issues to games stuttering, frames dropping, and in some cases frequent BSOD crashes. It’s far from an isolated incident, with many comments identifying that the Windows 10 update is the culprit, and it doesn’t look like you’ll be safe on either side of the colour spectrum, either. Team green, blue, and red are all affected with a wide range of Nvidia and AMD graphics cards and Intel and AMD CPUs caught up in the mix." (link)

Microsoft need to do one thing - release a consumer equivalent of Enterprise LTSC (call it "W10 Ultimate" if you want) and then leave it the f***k alone for at least 5 years... Now cue the resident "But... but... but I haven't seen any problems personally, therefore anyone who does is a MS hater!" fanboy mob here...

This is how you can manage a basically indestructible Linux set up (Also, it helps to have far more robust backup technology at the ready too) But let's face it: Microsoft probably can't handle even that: AFAIK this is caused by a security patch, the one that you'd *want to* install on even long term, no new features installation.

It's much simple: there's just not sufficient testing being done. And I mean professional testing with people paid to just test software instead of trusting willing end users to adopt beta testing for them.

 

[Geralt]

Surprisingly, I have never had any issue with any Windows update, not only this one.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

All my PC's and laptops are running fine after the update.

There are basically an infinite number of hardware configs out there for Microsoft to try and handle and you will always get a small number of people, relatively speaking, having issues. They can't test every single combo.

 

[Watzupken]

Surprisingly, I have never had any issue with any Windows update, not only this one.

In most cases, I don't experience issues with Windows update. However just a couple of months back, a Windows update messed up my system big time and I had to roll the system back twice to a pre-updated state to resolve the issue. After the first roll back, I did not realise the update is already downloaded, and Windows went ahead to install the update, and the issue where I can't launch any application appeared again. So had to roll it back again and delete the update to prevent it from auto installing.

I feel the problems are,
1. Windows ecosystem is too fragmented - So even with a lot of testers, there will surely be some issue that lingers for people with different setups,
2. The updates are forced upon you if you are not a Windows Pro user (and most people don't use Windows Pro). While you can postpone it, if the fix don't get applied before it gets forced installed, then you will be stuck with a buggy system.

 

[Geralt]

In most cases, I don't experience issues with Windows update. However just a couple of months back, a Windows update messed up my system big time and I had to roll the system back twice to a pre-updated state to resolve the issue. After the first roll back, I did not realise the update is already downloaded, and Windows went ahead to install the update, and the issue where I can't launch any application appeared again. So had to roll it back again and delete the update to prevent it from auto installing.

I feel the problems are,
1. Windows ecosystem is too fragmented - So even with a lot of testers, there will surely be some issue that lingers for people with different setups,
2. The updates are forced upon you if you are not a Windows Pro user (and most people don't use Windows Pro). While you can postpone it, if the fix don't get applied before it gets forced installed, then you will be stuck with a buggy system.

Time to move to Windows Pro then. I have Enterprise, and obviously, it is much better than Home.

 

[TechZel]

I must be one of the fringe weirdos.
Yet to have any sort of issue due to Windows 10 of any sort, and I'm in the beta ring.

The one issue I did have was due to my own making (putzing about with virtual memory and indexing and borked it when it came to reading a drive properly, which I've managed to resolve).

Figured I'd get that in before the "windows sucks" crowd.

Yeah, the Gamers do love to get disproportionately angry over minor issues that haven't personally affected them. Every time these banal Windows update issue articles come up (they evidently get really good engagement for basically no effort) I grab my popcorn and watch the show of people telling others to disable all updates using methods they don't really understand. Perhaps they'll suggest Linux as an alternative without having actually tested it as a desktop daily driver themselves. Maybe we'll hit a real winner with a person saying Linux is superior because it's more secure while directing people to make their Windows installation deliberately less secure.

I'm starting to wonder if brucek is onto something, and there really is a campaign feeding their inexplicable anger to keep the pool of insecure users as large as possible.

 

[texasrattler]

My system is kept up to date and don't have any issues. I play Warzone all the time, no frame rate issue. I dont use vsync. I don't know of any pc gamer who actually use it either. Pros don't. Maybe casual gamers do but most don't.
I bet the pcs that get affected are more pre builts than custom pcs. Meaning HP, Dell etc... may have or get certain issues where other pcs dont.

 

[ypsylon]

Microsoft and Windows 10 are parody and travesty of software engineering.

 

[Lozzy]

Worth mentioning that if you want to stop MS installing all but the most crucial updates automatically, just set your LAN/WIFI connection to metered. Then Windows Update will leave you alone.

This will also set your Outlook to offline by default when you open it, and will stop Windows downloading new lock screen wallpapers, either of which you may or may not care about.

(At least this is how I worked 18 months or so ago, the last time I had a crappy internet connection and wanted to stop Windows from hogging bandwidth every morning)

 

[envirovore]

Yeah, the Gamers do love to get disproportionately angry over minor issues that haven't personally affected them. Every time these banal Windows update issue articles come up (they evidently get really good engagement for basically no effort) I grab my popcorn and watch the show of people telling others to disable all updates using methods they don't really understand. Perhaps they'll suggest Linux as an alternative without having actually tested it as a desktop daily driver themselves. Maybe we'll hit a real winner with a person saying Linux is superior because it's more secure while directing people to make their Windows installation deliberately less secure.

I'm starting to wonder if brucek is onto something, and there really is a campaign feeding their inexplicable anger to keep the pool of insecure users as large as possible.

Heh, yes it seems the 'gamer' portion of the pc user space tends to make the most noise over these issues (or any other perceived issues that they want to blame their poor performance in whatever shooty game is the current big thing).

I appreciate your view on the "just use Linux" people as well.
Why? So I can spend more time mucking about in the OS itself to get something to work? So I get to emulate games instead of running them natively?
So I can spend hours searching for a fix for something for the one distro I installed vs the however many forked versions there are?
There will never be a "year of linux on the desktop" because it's not practical to use.

Yes, I realize we "use" linux in everything from smart phones to gas pump screens.

It'd be something to learn that brucek was right too. That's an interesting take on these types of reports.

 

[TheBigT42]

"Problems range from Vsync issues to games stuttering, frames dropping, and in some cases frequent BSOD crashes. It’s far from an isolated incident, with many comments identifying that the Windows 10 update is the culprit, and it doesn’t look like you’ll be safe on either side of the colour spectrum, either. Team green, blue, and red are all affected with a wide range of Nvidia and AMD graphics cards and Intel and AMD CPUs caught up in the mix." (link)

Microsoft need to do one thing - release a consumer equivalent of Enterprise LTSC (call it "W10 Ultimate" if you want) and then leave it the f***k alone for at least 5 years... Now cue the resident "But... but... but I haven't seen any problems personally, therefore anyone who does is a MS hater!" fanboy mob here...

That is why I run LTSC at home. Don't miss a thing from the regular ver

 

[Darth Shiv]

"Problems range from Vsync issues to games stuttering, frames dropping, and in some cases frequent BSOD crashes. It’s far from an isolated incident, with many comments identifying that the Windows 10 update is the culprit, and it doesn’t look like you’ll be safe on either side of the colour spectrum, either. Team green, blue, and red are all affected with a wide range of Nvidia and AMD graphics cards and Intel and AMD CPUs caught up in the mix." (link)

Microsoft need to do one thing - release a consumer equivalent of Enterprise LTSC (call it "W10 Ultimate" if you want) and then leave it the f***k alone for at least 5 years... Now cue the resident "But... but... but I haven't seen any problems personally, therefore anyone who does is a MS hater!" fanboy mob here...

When they did this for business, they then did stupid **** like their enterprise IDE (VS2019) require the non-LTSB branch. They just are a train wreck for stability with Win10.

 

[wiyosaya]

These threads are always interesting. I always love the "I don't get no issues" replies that they, themselves, imply "so no one else gets no issues" either - without realizing they are spewing logical fallacy all over the thread.

The thing with articles like these is to inform those that may have encountered the issue - and obviously, people have encountered this issue.

I have one 10 PC - running Pro, that refuses to upgrade. Any time I try to upgrade, it just blue screens after updating then conveniently says "we are putting things back the way they were because the update failed." I contacted M$ tech support, If you can even call the forum tech support, and their only answer is to completely reinstall the OS and all your software.

I know, I'm just some crazy computer enthusiast imaging that this is happening to my pc. Got it. I've had another PC that I own become completely unusable after an update- it had a black screen and just a mouse cursor after rebooting. But, I'm just some completely insane user who imagined that even though it took several hours of work to get it up and running again.

There's a simple solution for people who insist that windohs updates just work for them. Don't read threads like this. That way, you will not have to tolerate us completely insane people who are imagining these issues while also having to come to Microsoft's defense in stating "they cannot test all configurations".

While I do not suggest or think that anyone should drop Windohs in favor of linux, I can say that I have been using OpenSuSE for a long, long time on one PC at home, and at least when you complain about something that happens in an update that breaks something, it gets fixed. It has been a long, long, long time for me on doing version upgrades on that machine that something has broken after the upgrade.

Cheers. Count yourself among the lucky if you have never had a Windohs update problem. However, if you do ever have a problem with a Windohs update, it would not surprise me in the least to see you post a similar response to a thread like this - even after having said, "I don't get no Windohs update problems."

 

[terzaerian]

Also, a moment of silence for all the Windows 10 gamers who previously gloated about their OS's superior gaming performance. Pouring one out for the posts that aged poorly rn

 

[Steve Lalancette]

''Hopefully a little negative press will push Microsoft to issue a second patch to fix things''

Come on, at this point, in 2021, they REALLY don't care at Microsoft. ahahahah

 

[scavengerspc]

I must be one of the fringe weirdos.
Yet to have any sort of issue due to Windows 10 of any sort, and I'm in the beta ring.

The one issue I did have was due to my own making (putzing about with virtual memory and indexing and borked it when it came to reading a drive properly, which I've managed to resolve).

Figured I'd get that in before the "windows sucks" crowd.

I wish I knew, or anyone knew, how so few seems to have these problems, yet it seems like everyone claims to be suffering. I have a staff of 31 and each one I supply with a desktop and a laptop and since Windows 10 was introduced we have had exactly 2 problems with updates. One was with my wireless printers and reinstalling the drivers took care of that and one started causing USB drives to disconnect but worked after uninstalling them from device manager and reinstalling after a restart.

 

[RobertEmma]

After the update the my PC slows down with the performance, although I have SSD installed but I take more time to load any App. My games are now drop more fps than normal. Hope windows fix this bug soon.

 

[pmshah]

I must be the unlucky one.

Apart from screwing up my personalisation I can't get it to not keep restarting regardless of whether I am trying to shutdown or hibernate. The stupid think just keeps restarting. At least I we in India are fortunate that we actually have a power switch to cut power to the outlet to which my PC is plugged in. I wonder what would one do in case of this problem with the laptop !!!

The power options are gone from my NIC properties page related to WOL, etc.

Deleted a whole lot of my startup applications that I run in background from batch files.

The netsh application is no longer functional. What I mean is I probably will have to find a whole lot of command line switches that I have been using with networking resources.

I really wonder what kind of an itch those ***** engineers have that they can't follow the most important and critical advise of all times?

Like they say for Unix "Don't fix it unless it is broken" !!!!