Yet Another Bad Windows Update
There was Windows 10 and 11 update KB50119980 in November, which caused issues with some Intel GPU models up to Arc cards. It took me quite a while to pinpoint the cause of the problem as it is intermittent, but it is definitely noticeable when it occurs.
This bug affects any game or app that relies on DirectX or Direct3D and will pop up an error about apphelp.dll while running. There is no patch from Microsoft to update, but don’t despair as Intel has an easy solution. This bug does not affect GPUs with drivers newer than 30.0.101.1190, so updating the drivers should resolve the issue. The Register posted a link to Intel in their story to help people with older Intel GPUs find drivers if they have trouble installing the current version.
This was to fix an issue with localized folders in Explorer, leaving a mystery as to why the update interferes with DirectX and Direct3D.
