Windows 10 Update Causes Performance Drops, Input Lag in Games; Microsoft Promises Fix

Microsoft has confirmed that a recent Windows 10 cumulative update is causing severe problems in some games, including stuttering, input lag, and performance drops. The company is aware of the problems and has promised to roll out a fix in the near future. Gamers who are affected are being advised to uninstall the recent update. The issue was detected after Microsoft released its cumulative update, named KB4482887, for Windows 10 (version 1809, also known as the October 2018 Update), on March 1. This was a cumulative fix meant to correct bugs, and did not introduce any new features. 

Microsoft has updated its Windows Support database page for the release of KB4482887, stating "After installing KB4482887, users may notice graphics and mouse performance degradation with desktop gaming when playing certain games, such as Destiny 2. Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. As a short-term resolution, users can uninstall KB4482887 to regain performance."

Bleeping Computer reports that complaints about performance drops started appearing on the Microsoft subreddit, and some users speculated that they were being caused by a new mitigation measure for the Spectre CPU vulnerability, called Retpoline, but a user representing themself as a Microsoft employee posted that that this should not be the case since the mitigation has not rolled out to consumer copies of Windows 10 yet.

Multiple Reddit users have reported trouble with Destiny 2, ranging from PC crashes to CPU usage spikes and massive mouse input lag. Some reported trying to diagnose the issue by uninstalling and reinstalling GPU drivers before others made the connection to the Windows update. Reddit users also started seeing a correlation to Nvidia's GeForce RTX series graphics cards, but at least one user with an AMD GPU also reported having the same problems. 

Users who uninstall the update might have to set Windows to defer future updates for now, to prevent it from being installed automatically again. A fix could come early next week when the regularly scheduled 'Patch Tuesday' update is released.

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