Imagine you are in the middle of some important task, but your cursor is freezing or lagging. Working with computers is stressful enough if you have to deal with mouse or keyboard lag. Poor computer performance can quickly tend to de-escalate your overall work output. Improving your mouse and keyboard issues will significantly improve your work efficiency.
If you’re here reading this article right now, you’re probably facing an immensely annoying mouse lagging situation. Isn’t it the most frustrating thing? We’ve all probably been through this situation one or more times in our lives. When you’re in an intense gaming competition or working on an important document, or submitting a last-minute assignment, that annoying mouse lagging can surely drive you crazy.
How To Fix Mouse Lag
Most users experience the mouse lagging situation right after the update to Windows 10 and even when switching to other software afterward. Unfortunately, if you have no alternate software device, to finish up your task, you HAVE to move to fixing the mouse immediately instead of working. But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Here we will give you some easy to follow tips and directions in detail to help you figure out how to fix your mouse lag.
- Install The Official Driver For Your Mouse
Many times the reason for the lagging of the mouse is the incorrect driver installation by the computer. Windows 10 automatically downloads the mouse driver, but this may not always be the eligible one. In this case, you might want to check the mouse’s brand you are using and install the official driver for that specific brand. This will easily get your mouse to work perfectly fine.
However, other times you may not be knowing the brand. Therefore, looking for an official driver can be a complex task. Here you can take help from the application called “driver fix.” This automatic tool can determine the suitable upgrades that your mouse driver requires and installs them immediately.
All you have to do is install the “driver fix” app and launch it on your computer. The application will scan your files to determine any outdated or incompatible drivers and display them on your screen to approve the necessary changes it intends on making. Once you allow it to do so, it will replace the outmoded drivers with suitable programs. Now restart your computer, and hopefully, your mouse will be working just fine.
2. Recheck And Refresh Settings
This is a pretty obvious trick, but some computer components’ problems occur due to a technical glitch. You can usually fix glitches by refreshing your computer settings. Similarly, for the issue of mouse lagging, you can take a look at the mouse adjustment options in your computer settings.
You start by clicking the “settings” options on your computer. Then look for the “devices” option and click on this. Mostly the option for mouse settings is highlighted as “mouse and Touchpad.” Click on this option when you find it in the list. You now have the window open to access your scrolling settings.
This window must have an option highlighting the words “Scroll Inactive Windows…” Below this option is an enabling option, which is most probably going to be turned on. To refresh this, disable this option and enable it back on. You can repeat this a few times to refresh the system. Once you’re done refreshing the settings, check to see if your mouse lag is gone. If the problem persists, try using another fixing option.
3. Adjust The Palm Check Threshold
If your mouse isn’t working with sufficient speed, then there is a chance your mouse settings need some adjustments. Hence, using the method explained in the second point, go to the computer settings and access the mouse and touchpad option. This time look for the ”Additional Mouse” options.
Here you can see several options for the technical setting of your mouse functions. Look for the touchpad tab and select it. This will take you to another window with a new set of options. Here click on the settings options followed by the advanced tab. As the name indicates here, you can get access to further advanced control of your mouse operations.
In the advanced tab, look for the “palm check threshold”. Once the option is visible, you will see a drag scale under it that lets you select your preferred threshold level. Press, hold and drag the scale all the way towards the left. Hopefully, your mouse will reduce its lagging and start working perfectly fine.
4. Select The No Delay Option For The Touchpad
If none of the previous mouse setting adjustments work to fix the mouse lagging, you can try the delay option adjustment. Once again, you need to access the computer settings and then the mouse and touch settings for this method.
Here you will see an option that says delay before clicks highlighted under the touchpad section. Turn this option to No delay ( always on). This shall help prevent any lagging of the mouse when you are using the touchpad of your laptop. However, if you switch to the mouse, whether wireless or wired, you don’t need to adjust the touchpad settings.
For the case of switching to the mouse, you can disable the touchpad. You can do this by simultaneously pressing the fn and touchpad button. However, this option may not work on all laptops; therefore, you can download a third-party app like touch freeze to disable the touchpad. You can also do this via the windows settings if possible.
5. Turn Off Cortana
This may seem like a weird solution to the mouse lagging problem, but turning off Cortana may help you solve the issue. This idea comes from the fact that many users report turning off Cortana to be beneficial to them when trying to fix their mouse lagging issue.
To turn off Cortana, you need to launch Cortana on your computer. Find the settings option in the left corner of the window and click on it. In the settings, look for where it says, “Cortana Can give you suggestions, ideas, reminders, alerts, and more.” Once visible, click on this option and turn it off in the popup.
At times this method is not sufficient to turn off Cortana. In this scenario, you can try clearing the information from your Cortana account stored in the cloud. This way, Cortana will no longer be operational for you.
6. Disable The Automatic Audio Drivers
Some users think that computers that use the Nvidia Card or the Realtek audio usually cause the lagging mouse’s issue. These audio drivers automatically run when we turn on the computer. Therefore it is better to disable these audio drivers. If that does not work, you can uninstall these as well.
To disable the Nvidia high definition audio driver, the user must first uninstall the GeForce experience. Then go to the device manager and disable the NVIDIA high definition audio by clicking the disable device option.
If you are a Realtek audio user, you can disable the audio driver through the Startup tab in the taskbar under Realtek audio manager’s option. For Realtek users, another method that you can use is renaming the file. In the directory, go to the C: Program FilesRealtekAudioHDA and rename it to FMAPP.exe. Renaming the file will prevent the driver from running automatically; therefore, the mouse lagging is less likely to be a problem.
7. Adjustment Of Frequency
There is a possibility that the lagging problem that arises in the mouse is due to the improper frequency. If you are using a wired mouse, then the frequency issue may not be a problem; however, the unsuitable frequency can be problematic in a wireless mouse. If you think an imbalance in frequency is causing your mouse to stutter or lag, then you can try solving the issue by adjusting the frequency of the mouse yourself.
For frequency adjustment, the user needs to open the configuration software of their wireless device. You can try changing the frequency from 500 to 250 Hz. If the problem was actually due to the frequency, then reducing the frequency level to 250Hz will most probably benefit your situation.
Similarly, a mouse connected through Bluetooth can also be problematic at times. In this case, you can try several options other than frequency adjustment as well. The most commonly used tips are refreshing the Bluetooth connection and changing the Bluetooth drivers. Similarly, you can try running the system troubleshooter from the security settings of your computer. If all fails, try updating your software to get your Bluetooth devices to work better.
8. Disable The Fast Start-Up Feature
The fast startup feature is a beneficial feature of the laptop. It helps the user access their information quicker by switching their PC to hibernation mode instead of completely shutting it off. However, many users complain that this feature of the windows may hamper the mouse’s function, causing it to lag or stutter.
So the suitable option to fix this issue seems to be disabling the fast startup feature. To disable this feature, you need to access the control panel and then go to the power options. From here, you can click the option that allows you to choose what the power button can do. Here you will see an option that says, “ Change settings that are currently unavailable.” Click this option and turn off the fast startup feature by unchecking its box—lastly, save the changes you made.
This should solve your problem. However, in some cases, like in the mouse’s complete inability to move, you can turn towards other methods to access the control panel. These, however, take a detailed process that may involve reinstalling the windows if needed.
9. Make Adjustments In The Clickpad Settings
Another possible attempt to fix your mouse lagging through the control panel can be by adjusting the click pad settings. Here you can control several features like sensitivity, scrolling, gestures, etc according to your own preference.
Changing the click pad settings requires you to follow a few very simple steps. After you open the control panel and click the mouse section, look for the click pad settings. Now Choose the advanced options and click on the smart sense. Here turn the filter to 0. However, not all laptops have the click pad settings, so this method is only applicable for those that have this feature.
In some cases, the users experience that the settings keep adjusting automatically despite their manual adjustments. In this case, you can try accessing the troubleshoot option; you can try updating your software or simply performing a clean boot.
10. Switching From Wireless To Wired Device
Many users complained that the lagging problem would mostly arise during the wireless connection of the device. Therefore to resolve this issue, the user can try replacing it with a wired device.
You can connect the wired mouse to the USB port to avoid using the wireless mouse. Most users say that the wired mouse connected through the USB port is less likely to cause any technical issues like stuttering or jamming of the cursor.
Related Guide: How to Test & Change Mouse DPI
FAQs
Why does my mouse cursor lag?
Your mouse cursor may be lagging for several reasons like outdated graphic cards, internet problems, incompatible mouse drive, or frequency issues with wireless devices.
How can I tell if my mouse is lagging?
If you experience some issues with your wireless mouse’s movement, you can connect a wired mouse and compare the performance between the two to see if your former mouse was lagging or not.
How do I make my mouse more responsive?
You can access the control panel and click on the mouse option. Click the pointer options tab, which will show you a slider. Move this to choose your preferred speed and responsiveness.
Conclusion
A mouse is an electronic device, and like any other electronic device, it can develop faults with time. However, these technical faults may be within the mouse, within the software, in our computer settings, or even in our internet connection. Either of these faults can cause the mouse to slow down or lag.
But with so many simple and easy to follow techniques mentioned above, you need not worry! We have you all covered. Next time your mouse starts acting up in the middle of an epic game or an important office task don’t panic! Keep your calm, try any of these techniques to get your mouse back on track, and you are good to go!