The Latest Microsoft Windows 8.1 Patch Is Causing Severe Mouse Lag In Some Games

I almost broke my monitor recently, while playing a game, because I was so infuriated by the recent Windows Update 8.1 that was officially available for download on October 18. Prior to the update, in the windows official blog, Brandon LeBlanc said “Windows 8.1 brings a variety of new features and improvements to Windows 8 that we think people will really enjoy.”

Guess what, almost every gamer that installed this 8.1 is pulling his hair now. All of this is because Microsoft decided to change how the mouse is handled In Windows 8.1. Basically WM_MOUSEMOVE events are set to be delayed, also the updating of the Windows mouse pointer is being delayed as well. Because of this, the mouse is acting strangely in many games.

Gamers spotted the mouse problem IMMEDIATELY. Angry and frustrated users started to complain about this problem in the official windows forums. Statements like “FIX THE MOTHER ****ING MOUSE LAG” and “HOW THE **** DO YOU RELEASE 8.1 THAT IS ****ING BROKEN?” were not uncommon. Some people report that their mouse suddenly stops moving. When you enter a game the pointer disappears. There are reports as well that the 8.1 update is breaking wireless mouse and keyboard.

Microsoft, states that they are working on the problem, but they do not have a date for a release of a fix yet. Fortunately, there are many workarounds about the different scenarios that mitigate the wasted time. If you have a similar problem like:
Mouse jumps forward and backwards as you move it through the game like you are not controlling it. Mouse movement is not scaling correctly even after acceleration is disabled. The measured mouse Polling Rate has a lower frequency than expected. Then you should try the workaround that is described in the below video:

Here is a short description of the steps:

1. Right-click the game’s icon.
2. Select Properties.
3. Select the Compatibility tab.
4. Run this program in compatibility mode for windows 7 .
5. Check the box next to Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.
6. Click on OK.

This should fix games that do not use DirectX and the workaround for this mouse problem is to Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.

Another problem is that you cannot left-click with your pointing device immediately after pressing a key – This applies to touchpads on laptops.
The workaround for this is changing the mouse delay to zero, but this may make typing more difficult. You need to do the following:

1. Swipe in from the right to bring up the charms, and choose Settings.
2. Select Change PC Settings.
3. Click Mouse & Touchpad.
4. In the drop down To help prevent the cursor from accidentally moving while you type, change the delay before clicks work, select No Delay.

The last but not least, you can try the first thing many computer experts suggest when they see a problem – re-installing or clean install of the windows 8.1 update
Here is the procedure:

1. Move pointer to bottom right corner until menu pops up.
2. Click on settings then option change PC settings.
3. Click on update and recovery then recovery.
4. Here you can select reset PC or factory settings.

I hope that any of the above fixes will help you to forget about this unpleasant transition from Window 8 to windows 8.1