Corrupted graphics, crashes, and noisy GPU fan after updating NVIDIA GeForce drivers to 364.xx

I recently updated the drivers for my NVIDIA GeForce video card to version 364.72 (or other version in the 364.xx series), and I'm now experiencing issues such as the following:

• Games or other graphically intensive applications crash or hang
• I get BSODs that are associated with the graphics driver, e.g. nvlddmkm.sys or dxgkrnl.sys
• Graphical glitches such as missing or misplaced text or icons, display corruption, or a black screen occur
• The graphics driver crashes regularly, with the message "Display driver [...] has stopped responding and has recovered."
• The fan on my graphics card spins up to high speed, or the card makes excessive noise

Reinstalling the graphics driver did not help. What's going on?

This question comes up often and the answers are usually the same. This post is meant to provide a definitive, canonical answer for this problem. Feel free to edit the answer to add additional details.

The 364.xx drivers are buggy. It's best to use version 362.00 until NVIDIA addresses these issues.

• WCCFtech has reported that many users are experiencing serious problems with the 364.72 drivers, ranging from crashes and hangs to outright hardware failure (i.e. the card is bricked). These issues don't seem to affect everyone, but it's best not to take the risk.

• Several other versions in the 364 series are affected with similar bugs (though not necessarily of the same severity). The last driver prior to the 364 series is 362.00, which has been problem-free for most users.