If you are experiencing gameplay issues with Windows 10, especially stuttering and unexpected frame rate drops, wait a minute. Hopefully. It's worth remembering that it was a previous Windows update that caused these performance issues on some PCs in the first place.

Unfortunately for some unlucky users, the cumulative Patch Tuesday updates that Microsoft rolled out in April tended to wreck frame rates and stutter games for no apparent reason.

"I think I have the same problem, since yesterday when I upgraded Windows, Warzone's performance has gone from an average of 90 fps to 75 fps and even below 60 fps (V-Sync off)," another user wrote at the time.

The good news is that the Patch Tuesday update (KB5004327) this month solved the problem for some. But not everyone has been so lucky; as Windows Latest discovered, some Windows 10 users are reporting the same performance issues even after installing the latest cumulative update, which began rolling out more than a week ago.

"Since KB500842, I'm having gaming performance issues again. Someone at Microsoft really needs to fix this," one user wrote on Reddit." The workaround is to set the power plan to "High Performance," but I prefer to stay with the "Balanced" power plan.

Windows 11 does not appear to have the same problem, but only a preview version is available at this time. One could also make the argument to hold off on upgrading to see what inevitable wrinkles still remain when it is released later this year.

Fortunately, Microsoft believes it has finally pinpointed the root cause. While Microsoft has not elaborated on the issue, the release notes for the upcoming Windows 10 feature update (21H2) suggest that a permanent fix is in the works.

"We have fixed an issue where power plans and game modes were not working as expected. This resulted in lower frame rates and slower performance during games," the release notes state.

The caveat is that it could take several months for the 21H2 update to arrive (probably around the same time as Windows 11). It is also available as a preview version to members of the Window Insider program, but it is possible that Microsoft will provide the same fix in the next cumulative update, which will be available on August 10 (the second Tuesday of next month).

In the meantime, there are a few potential workarounds you can try if the game is not running properly on your machine: one is to select the "High Performance" power plan in Windows 10 and hope the OS does not ignore your choice. Another is to turn off game mode. The latter may work better, as game mode has been associated with performance issues for over a year now.

Besides these measures, the same general advice applies. Make sure you are running the latest drivers for your hardware, especially your GPU, and apply any available game patches for the title that is causing the problem on your PC.