How To Fix Mouse Lag In Windows 10 And 11

It is satisfying to watch your mouse pointer/cursor slide across your screen every time you move your mouse or glide your finger over the trackpad. Do you know what isn’t satisfying? Watch your pointer lag all over your screen and test your patience while you try to get something done.

If this issue isn’t fixed, we could be looking at consequences like rage quitting, incomplete assignments, and other unfinished work. A dysfunctional mouse can be responsible for the decline in productivity through your computer and this is not optimal for anything you do through the PC.

This is why we figured you might need help setting things right for one of the most important parts of the computer. This article can help you fix the lagging mouse issue on your computer.

What Does A Mouse Lag Mean?

When a device does not make an impact on the computer as soon as it is instructed to, within a short amount of time or the proclaimed response time (ms), it is known as device lag. A rise in response time can cause mayhem all over your computer.

Especially when you are in an action-packed video game. You will need the lowest ms possible, in this situation. This is not the only place where you will need a lag-free mouse pointer movement. 

A lagging mouse or choppy mouse movement can be difficult to direct to the destination or move over the needed virtual object like a file or button. This will delay the output more than a perfectly functional wireless or wired mouse can produce at the same time. 

A lagging mouse cursor or a slow keyboard is very annoying to work with and has to be fixed as soon as possible. We will try to fix trackpad and mouse-exclusive cursor movement issues that can occur on your Windows 10 or 11 PC.

These problems could be a cursor lag, a frozen mouse pointer, or an unmoving pointer. Some solutions in the following content are directed toward fixing a wireless mouse that is unresponsive. 

What Are The Factors That Cause Mouse Lag On Your System?

• Connectivity issues

A mouse, irrespective of being wired or wireless, requires a USB pin to be connected to the PC for functioning. If this USB pin or the USB port that it goes into is damaged, your mouse pointer freezes or stops.

You will have to use another mouse or fix the existing mouse to fix this version of the mouse input lag. When you think that the issue lies with the port or the USB hub device, you might have to repair the port or get a new USB hub.

• Low batteries

If your mouse is wireless, they work either through batteries or through charging. The charge on the mouse and on the removable batteries drains out after some usage time and needs to be recharged.

The biggest symptom of a low battery is that you will be able to notice the mouse cursor get stuck at places on the screen and not move smoothly, without any disturbances. If your mouse has a light underneath the motion sensor, the light may become dimmer with the decline in charge.

• Corrupt or Outdated Mouse drivers

The mouse drivers are very important for the computer to connect with the mouse and let this device control the cursor on the screen, If these drivers are outdated, the mouse is most likely not able to control the cursor or click on objects.

Without an antivirus enabled, you face the risk of driver corruption through viruses and other malicious agents. Updating them or reinstalling them after removing them on the computer with the mouse lag issues. 

Issues Similar To The Mouse Lag

• Mouse lag

The mouse is not as fast as you expect it to be. The cursor moves milliseconds or even full seconds after the mouse is moved with your hand. With this kind of response delay, you will not be able to experience things the way they should be. For example, a slow mouse can cause a quick game session to end. 

• Mouse stutter

A mouse stutter is an event where the cursor keeps stopping at random parts of the screen while moving the mouse around. This is an extremely annoying problem that all of us with a wireless mouse have faced.

• Frozen mouse

The cursor on your screen refuses to move no matter how much you try to move it around with your mouse. This is not an issue if you have a laptop with a trackpad. But when this happens on your desktop PC, whatever you wanted to do will have to wait. This issue can occur on both wired and wireless mice on any Operating System (OS) and not just Windows 10 and 11.

Workarounds To Fix Mouse Lag

Before we start trying actual solutions to get rid of these above-mentioned mouse lag issues, we have to use these workarounds. If they work, you can save a lot of time in trying to implement the solutions, trying to fix them. 

These are some of the simple workarounds that should be tried before heading to the advanced techniques to fix mouse lag on your Windows 10 or 11 computer. 

Workaround 1 – Try A Different Mouse

If the mouse does not trigger the movement of the cursor on the screen or is not as smooth as it should be, your first tip is to use another mouse to see if the second mouse works. It is important to plug the mouse into the same USB slot that hosted the previous mouse.

If the second mouse works, it means that the problem is with your mouse and not the computer or its configurations. This issue can take place if you have a wired or wireless mouse. 

If your laptop’s trackpad isn’t working, it could be because of the accumulation of dust or a loose wire connection. The attachment of an additional mouse or repairing the touchpad should be able to fix this issue. 

Workaround 2 – Try Using A USB Hub

The second workaround is to determine and fix the issue if it lies with the USB port on the side or behind your computer. Using a USB hub not only offers more slots for inserting devices through the USB ports but also helps with a smoother connection to the computer. 

Workaround 3 – Try Plugging Your Mouse Into A USB 2.0 Port

If your computer or the USB connecting hardware is new, there are chances for the port to be the USB 3.0 version. This is not ideal for inserting USB pins that are compatible with version 2.0 ports. Check your device’s manual and look for USB 2.0 slots and plug your device in through that.

This might sound like a far-fetched alternative but this is a factor that should be considered while you buy and insert new pins into your system. 

Workaround 4 – Troubleshoot The Mouse

Troubleshooting an aspect of the Windows 10 OS is very helpful and requires no or minimal help from you, as the user who is facing the issue. Though a lot of system elements have an exclusive troubleshooter, the mouse does not. This doesn’t mean that you have no other way to check the malfunctioning mouse hardware. 

Here’s what you will have to do manually, in order to inspect your mouse hardware. 

1. For a wired mouse, you just have to unplug it from the slot and insert it again. 
2. You can also try to insert the wireless mouse receiver or the wired USB pin into another slot. Your computer surely will have more than one USB port.

3. Take a look at the port and cables. There are chances of damage to these hardware components. 
4. Clean the ports with a brush or with a very durable cleaning slime, very quickly. 
5. If you use a hub, check if it is working and has a sufficient power supply to it. 

Workaround 5 – Replace The Batteries If You Have a Wireless Mouse Lag Issue

If you are facing a wireless mouse lag issue, make sure to remove the old batteries and replace them with fresh ones regularly. One of the signs that your wireless mouse needs a change of batteries is the mouse lag. This visual symptom can appear on your computer when you have used up over 85% of the battery, which is placed inside the mouse. 

Some wireless mice can also be charged or connected to a computer with the help of a connection cable. Most mice use AAA batteries, which aren’t very expensive. We recommend stocking up on some of them as they can also be used for other battery-powered appliances.

Workaround 6 – Adjust The Mouse DPI

If you utilize a gaming mouse, you will have a button to adjust the Dots Per Inch (DPI) for the mouse. A mouse can have up to 6 DPI variants in it. You might feel the mouse lag when the DPI is set to a value that you are not used to. You can also check the weights inside the mouse if the mouse feels unusual to drag about. 

For more advanced changes in the mouse’s utility, you can download the mouse interface application that can be downloaded from the manufacturer’s website. This tool can be used to adjust the frequency or polling rate (Hz). We use a frequency of about 500 Hz, which is quite optimal for dual monitors and gaming. 

Solutions To The Mouse Lag Issue On Windows 10 And 11

The following techniques have been curated and added after checking if they can fix Mouse lag on Windows computers. If the workarounds did not work in your case, you can proceed with the below set of solutions for fixing the mouse lag issue on your Windows 10 computer. 

1. Update/Reinstall Your Mouse Driver
2. Update/Reinstall The Graphics Card Driver
3. Activate The Scroll Inactive Windows Feature
4. Make Adjustments In The Palm Check Threshold
5. Alter The Power Management Settings For The Mouse Driver
6. Enable No Delay On Your Laptop Touchpad
7. Turn Off The Fast Startup Feature
8. Disable The Cortana Ai Assistant
9. Deactivate The NVIDIA High-Definition Audio Driver
10. Kill The Realtek Audio Process

Fixing Mouse Lag Issues On Your Computer

Now that we have looked at the reasons and the possible workarounds behind the mouse lag issues on your computer, we’ll look at actual solutions for this issue so that you can have a smooth and lag-free experience with “mouse” around.  

Solution 1 – Update/Reinstall Your Mouse Driver

A plausible reason for the mouse lag issue can be an out-of-date or corrupt mouse driver software. Like every other part of your computer needs driver software to function, the mouse does too. It is important to have the latest version of driver software for all the devices on your computer so that the best output is produced. Besides performance, one more reason to update the drivers are to fix existing issues with the device.

The following are the steps to update or reinstall the mouse driver software on your Windows 10 computer. 

1. Launch the Device Manager window. There are three ways to bring up this window on your PC –
   1. The Quick Link menu. Right-clicking on the Start button will bring up the Quick Link/Power User menu, and you will have to choose Device Manager.

2. Search Bar. You can search for the Device Manager app in the search box in the taskbar to bring this up as the search result.

3. Run tool. The Run utility can be used to launch a lot of Windows applications and even other executable files with the appropriate command. If the devmgmt.msc command is executed, and the Device Manager window should open. 

2. Once the Device Manager window is up, locate the Mice and other pointing devices section.

Expand it by clicking on the section’s title.

3. From here, you will have to choose between updating these drivers or removing and reinstalling them. Right-click on a device to draw a context menu down.

1. If you choose the Update driver option, you will be shown an Update wizard where you will have to choose Search automatically for drivers.

 Your system and the internet will be checked for available updates and they will be downloaded. A simple reboot of the OS will automatically install them. You can also reach this option in the Driver tab in the Device properties. 

2. Choosing Uninstall device will remove the device and its driver software.

To reinstall it again, you will have to right-click on this section again and choose, Scan for hardware changes.

Alternatively, you can also install a newer version of the mouse driver through the fore mentioned mouse interface.

The mouse manufacturer’s website will also have several versions of the mouse driver updates for download. You can always use these sources and their on-screen instructions to download the latest or existing versions of the drivers’ software for mice or any other updateable hardware devices. 

Solution 2 – Update/Reinstall The Graphics Card Driver

You might find it quite unusual to update the outdated Graphics card driver on your computer to fix a mouse issue. This is because the display adapters are responsible for what moves on your screen.

Even if this method does not work for you, it is always a bonus to have an updated GPU driver as you can get better output and graphics rendering while playing games, editing, or streaming content. 

If you have a third-party software interface for your graphics cards, like the GeForce Experience for NVIDIA and the Radeon Adrenalin engine for AMD graphics cards,  you can always use them to download updates and install them, with the only requirement of a decent internet connection. 

If you wish to do it manually, use the below steps. 

1. Bring up the Device Manager window. Please refer to the above solution to know the three ways to launch this window on a Windows 10 device. 
2. Locate the Display adapters section and click on it. 

3. Now, right-click on your dedicated graphics card and open the respective context menu.
4. Here, if you choose Update driver, an update wizard will appear. You will have to choose the Search automatically for drivers option to start the search for GPU driver updates. This option could also be named the Automatic search for updated driver software. Once they are downloaded, reboot your system to install them.
5. Optionally, you can choose Uninstall device. To get it back, you will have to find the correct driver and install it again. Selecting Scan for hardware changes, from the File menu, will help the computer detect the GPU and bring the driver again.

Some driver versions can also be downloaded from the developer’s website in the form of a setup file. If this doesn’t stop the mouse lag, proceed to the next step.

Solution 3 – Activate or Deactivate The Scroll Inactive Windows Feature

When a cursor focus is not on a specific window, there is a feature that has to be enabled, to let users scroll through such a window with the mouse wheel, especially when they are documents like Excel sheets or word pages. This feature can be responsible for mouse lag, no matter enabled or disabled. 

These are the steps to turn the scroll inactive windows feature on or off.

1. Bring up the Windows Settings (Windows key) application and go into the Devices tile. 

2. Move to the Mouse tab on the left panel.

Here, you should be able to see the “Scroll inactive windows when I hover over them” toggle switch.

3. If it is enabled, turn it off, and if it isn’t enable it. Then, slide your mouse around to see if the issue is fixed
4. Repeat this procedure multiple times to see if it helps.

Solution 4 – Make Adjustments In The Palm Check Threshold

The Palm Check feature is what prevents the cursor from moving on your screen when the laptop’s touchpad is touched by mistake. This feature can get in the way of the hardware and cause the mouse lag on your computer. 

1. Open the Windows Settings and click on the Devices option.
2. Go into the Mouse & Touchpad tab on the left menu panel and locate the Additional mouse options link. 
3. In the Mouse Properties window that appears, go into the Pointer Options tab. 

4. Find the Palm Check Threshold slider and click on it. This is located under the motion section. 
5. Now, drag it all the way to the left. 

Solution 5 – Alter The Power Management Settings For The Mouse Driver

The Power Management Settings for the USB device can also be responsible for the fluctuations in the movement of the cursor on the screen. There is a chance of the mouse lag error being fixed when these configurations are modified.

Use these steps to do so –

1. Launch the Device Manager tool and locate the Universal Serial Bus Controllers section.

2. Click on the section to expand it into a list of all the USB hub devices. 
3. Double-click on the USB Root Hub device and in the device properties window, go into the Power Management tab. 

4. Uncheck the “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” checkbox.

Solution 6 – Enable No Delay On Your Laptop Touchpad

The Delay feature is used to stop the cursor from moving when you’re typing on a document on your laptop. This could be an issue when enabled and we’ll tell you how to disable it. 

This method can help you turn off this feature on your laptop –

1. Open the Windows Settings and go into the Devices tile. 
2. Click on the Mouse & Touchpad tab on the left tab panel.
3. In the Touchpad section, draw the drop-down menu and select the No delay (always on) option.

After these steps, move your mouse around to see if the mouse lag is fixed.

Solution 7 – Turn Off The Fast Startup Feature

The Fast Startup feature is very useful for booting up the PC fast but we have a lot of articles about issues on which disabling this feature is a frequent solution. The mouse lag can also be fixed by disabling the fast startup feature.

These are the steps to turn off fast startup on your computer. 

1. Open the Control Panel on your computer.

You can open it through the Start menu or search for it.

2. Go into the Power options settings and click on the Choose what the power button does link, from the left panel. 

3. When you are on the Define power buttons page, click on the Change settings that are currently an unavailable option at the top.

4. Click on the Turn on fast startup checkbox and save these changes. 

Solution 8 – Disable The Cortana AI Assistant

The Cortana Assistant can be a hindrance to the mouse and thereby cause mouse lag. Let’s try disabling it and see if it helps out the situation. 

1. Open the Cortana window through the icon on the taskbar. 

2. Bring down the three-dots menu and click on the Settings option.
3. Go into the Talk to Cortana tab and under the Hey Cortana section, toggle all the options off. 

See if this has helped your mouse. If it hasn’t, you can go back to using the same method to re-enable the steps on your computer. 

Solution 9 – Deactivate The NVIDIA High-Definition Audio Driver

The Graphics Card is very close to the mouse movement on your screen. If you have an NVIDIA graphics card, you should know that the NVIDIA HD audio output is taken from the HDMI port on the backside of the GPU. It is only fair to try disabling the NVIDIA HD audio driver on your computer to help with the mouse stuttering issue. 

With these steps, you can fix the mouse lags on your Windows 10 computer. 

1. Type in Add or Remove Programs in the search bar and click on the best match.

2. Find the GeForce Experience tool and click on it. 

3. Select the Uninstall button and do as the uninstall wizard instructs to remove this tool.
4. Then, open the Device Manager.
5. Expand the Sound, Video, and game controllers section and find the NVIDIA High Definition Audio device. 

6. Bring up the context menu and click on the Disable device option.

Solution 10 – Kill The Realtek Audio Process

Some forums had solutions to the mouse lag issue involving turning the Realtek audio manager off. You might be wondering if this is an audio driver and not a mouse driver. You and us, buddy. This has worked for a lot of users and is worth trying

1. Open the Task Manager window (Ctrl + Shift + Esc). You can also open it through the Task Termination window (Ctrl + Alt + Del) or through the taskbar context menu.

2. Scroll to the Background processes section and locate the Realtek audio manager process. 

3. Select this process and click on the End Task button.

You can also end the Realtek audio manager process in the Startup tab. Once the process is ended, check if the problem still exists.

These are the steps to fix the mouse lag problem on your Windows device. You might have to take your devices to a professional if our methods did not work for you. Happy mousing around!