Why Is My Mouse Flickering? 6 Solutions To Fix It

Since we are on a digital tour of all the issues that arise while using a wireless mouse on your computer. What we will be looking at in this article is kind of an issue upgrade. A lot of Windows users who work with a wireless mouse and/or keyboard have been noticing a flickering mouse pointer on their screen.

Why Is My Mouse Flickering

This perplexing error has got several users worried and confused. Therefore, we took up the responsibility of delivering help towards fixing this issue on all Windows computers with this issue. The article we’ve provided below has everything you will need to know and do to answer the question “Why is my Mouse Flickering?”.

Why is my mouse flickering?

We made a list of all the factors that can cause the mouse flickering issue on Windows 10 and why they cause it, below.

Running File Explorer Process

The Windows File Explorer process can unintentionally get in the way of the cursor functionality. Though it is just the Windows element that appears when you need to access files on your computer, it can get into a state of error sometimes. This means that when Windows Explorer is malfunctioning, you could experience the mouse pointer flickering issue on your computer.

Mice and Keyboard Driver Software

The driver software that manages the keyboard and mouse on your system can also be responsible for this issue. Since the mouse and keyboard are directly involved with your mouse pointer, they can affect its appearance when they are facing problems.

This can also be a root of a connectivity issue, where the wireless mouse and keyboard are connected together to the computer through one dongle. This is also a possible explanation of why this issue arises.

Display Adapter drivers

The mouse pointer and the graphics drivers installed on your computers are linked together. These drivers are responsible for prompting the monitor to display content on it. A corrupt or outdated video driver can cause a lot of issues including the one we are talking about. This has to be fixed immediately to be able to use your computer properly again.

Fingerprint sensors

Biometric devices, like the fingerprint scanner on laptops, and the interface software that manages the biometric systems can be the reason why your cursor flickers on your screen. Several users with the HP SimplePass suspected that this tool was also responsible for this issue on their HP devices. Disabling fingerprint security can help you here.

Active Antivirus Programs

Antivirus programs are very useful but they can sometimes detect the legitimacy of programs to be threats to the system. Therefore, when they attempt to take them out, several issues can occur in various parts of the Operating System (OS). One of the issues this can cause is their flickering cursor error.

Solutions for the Mouse Flickering Issue on Windows 10

  1. Kill and Launch the Windows Explorer Process
  2. Download the latest Mouse and Keyboard Drivers
  3. Disconnect and reconnect the display driver
  4. Turn off the Biometric Devices
  5. Deactivate the Antivirus Software
  6. Perform a Clean boot on your device

Fixing the Mouse Flickering Issue on a Windows PC

Before we start discussing the solutions for these issues, it is important to log into your Windows OS through the system administrator account. This is a really important step for you to carry out because only a system admin or an account with elevation can make changes in the system’s configuration.

If you are using an office computer, have the system administrator provide permissions for you to make these adjustments, temporarily. If you are an office system administrator, you will find these fixes useful.

Kill and Launch the Windows Explorer Process

As we mentioned earlier, the Windows Explorer system process is one of the main factors that we have to take into account while dealing with a flickering mouse pointer.

Restarting this service on your computer might be the easiest workaround that you will have to use for fixing this issue. Let us try that first and you’ll be lucky if it works for you –

  • Push the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys on your keyboard to bring up the Windows Task Manager. Alternatively, you can open this window through the Task Termination window (Ctrl + Alt + Del) or right-click on the Start menu and choose the Task Manager option.
Windows Task Manager.
  • Locate the Windows Explorer process and right-click on it. You should be able to find this in the Processes tab as the Windows Explorer process. This is also available in the Details tab as the explorer.exe process.
Windows Explorer process
  • From the context menu, choose the Restart option to kill it and open it again on your system.

Now, check the mouse pointer to see if there is any flickering on your screen.

Download the latest Mouse and Keyboard Drivers

Updating your system drivers on your computer for getting the best performance or functionality out of the components is something you will have to do regularly. Your easiest option for doing this comes in two methods – using an interface application provided by the hardware manufacturer or the updated installer package from the website.

If you wish to do it manually, follow these steps to update the mouse and keyboard drivers on your system.

  • Your first step should be to open the Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) window on your computer. This can be done through the Run tool (Windows + R), Quick Link menu (Windows + X), or the Search bar (Windows + X).
Mice and other pointing devices & Keyboards
  • What we need here are located in two sections – Mice and other pointing devices & Keyboards. You do not have to update these drivers in any particular order. Sometimes, you might even have to update the devices in the Universal Serial Bus controllers section.
  • Expand the section and right-click on the device driver that has to be updated.
  • In the context menu that appears on your screen, choose the Update driver option.
choose the Update driver option.
  • From the Update wizard, choose the Search automatically for updated drivers. This will make your system scan the internet and the local files for available update files.
  • If there are any, they will be downloaded automatically without any prompting. You just have to restart the computer for the installation process to complete. It is important to use the Update and Restart option for this.

Repeat these steps for the other mice or keyboard drivers also. Even if this solution does not help you, it is always a good idea to have updated keyboard and mouse drivers.

Disconnect and reconnect the display driver

There are some tweaks that you can do, related to your system’s GPU and its driver software.

The first thing you can try is to update its current version. You can use the steps mentioned above for updating the mouse drivers. You will be able to find the graphics card driver in the Display adapter section on the Device Manager.

As an alternate method, you can also use a GPU interface application to manage this. For NVIDIA video cards, you will need the GeForce Experience. Users with AMD Radeon graphics cards can use the Radeon Adrenalin tool to manage the GPU drivers and activity.

You can try resetting your computer’s graphics card with a very simple procedure. You just have to close all the windows on your system and press the Windows Key + CTRL + SHIFT + B keys on your keyboard.

The screen will become black for a second. This is because the Windows Explorer process will launch again. Check if the mouse pointer still keeps flashing.

If this does not help you, you can remove the device driver and reinstall it. Use the Uninstall driver option for the GPU in the Device Manager. Once you’ve removed the device, choose the Scan for hardware changes option from the section’s context menu. This will help you if you are suspecting corrupt driver software.

Turn off the Biometric Devices

Biometric devices like fingerprint and retinal scanners, and voice recognition software are some of the tools that can possibly be connected to a computer.

These devices will also have device driver software that might get corrupt. Damage to these drivers can affect your mouse pointer as they are all linked through a display driver.

We can try disabling these devices when not in use, on your computer. The following steps should help you with it.

  • Open the Device Manager using any of the above-mentioned methods.
  • Find the Biometric devices section. You will be able to see it only if your computer has hosted this type of device before. If you do not see it, you can skip this solution.
  • Expand this section and open the context menu for the device we need to look into here.
  • Choose the Disable device option to stop this driver from running on your computer.
  • Once this is done, reboot your system and check if the mouse pointer flickers.

If you wish to use the biometric device again, you can reverse these steps to enable it back again. Make sure to enable the device back again to

Deactivate the Antivirus Software

Interruptions from the antivirus software can cause the pointer to flash on your computer. This means that your option here is to disable the antivirus. If you are using third-party antivirus software, each of them has unique interfaces.

You will have to use the settings for the antivirus program to disable it temporarily. Some of these tools also have task tray shortcuts, where you can shut the functions of the program down for a select period of time.

For Windows users with no antivirus program, you will be using the Windows Virus and Threat Protection tool, by default. You will find the option to turn it off in the Security settings itself. Both of these solutions are very risky because it involves the computer’s security.

If this does not work for you, it is very important to undo the changes you made here. Leaving it this way will only make your system more vulnerable to threats like viruses and malware.

Perform a Clean boot on your device

A clean boot is the last solution you can implement here. This procedure should eliminate the issue in most cases. If you do not know how to run a clean boot, here’s how to –

  • Push the Windows + R keys on your keyboard to open the Run tool and type msconfig in the Open slot. Hit the Enter key to open the System Configuration window. 
  • Go to the Services tab in the System Configuration window and click on the Hide All Microsoft Services checkbox.
  • Select the Disable All button and save the changes by clicking on the Apply button.
  • Then, go to the Startup tab from this window. 
  • Go to the Startup tab from this window. 
  • Disable all apps from the Startup tab in the Task Manager window one by one.
  • Once all of this is done, restart your computer to launch it in a clean boot.

These are all the fixes you can use to fix the flickering mouse issue on Windows 10 and Windows 11. If these solutions do not help you, you will have to talk to Microsoft support or the customer support team of the mouse manufacturer. Happy Browsing!