Mouse acceleration is a feature that most people don’t pay attention to, but you’d certainly notice if it was adjusted. But what is it? Every mouse has a sensitivity level which determines how far the pointer on your screen moves in proportion to how far the physical mouse moves. When mouse acceleration is turned on, particularly fast or long movements are registered quicker than the 1:1 scale you’d normally seen.
Having this threshold can be useful for a lot of average users because it responds appropriately dramatically to dramatic movements, but it can also be a liability. This is especially true for computer games that require precision. The difference between a headshot and a whiff can sometimes come down to just a few pixels, and mouse acceleration can be a liability when even a few milliseconds can matter. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to disable the settings in pretty much any version of Windows.
How to Turn Off Mouse Acceleration: Windows 10
If you want to know how to disable mouse acceleration in Windows 10, there’s no need to be intimidated. Microsoft has made it easy to adjust almost all of the important pointer options, and that includes mouse acceleration in Windows. We’ll walk you through the process of how to disable mouse acceleration in Windows 10 step by step.
- Click on the Start Menu. Along the far left of the menu and right above the power button, you should see a cog. This will open up the general Settings menu in a new window.
- The second option on the Settings menu will be Devices. The Devices menu is where you’ll go to alter the settings for all your devices and printers. Double click on this. Here, you’ll be presented with a range of different options that can vary depending on what devices you have attached. You’ll want to click on the Mouse
- This is the menu you want to go to whenever you need to make changes to your mouse. Some basic options are available from the main page here, but if you want to adjust your mouse acceleration or make any comparatively advanced changes, you’ll need to go to click on Additional Mouse Options.
- You’ll get a separate window split up into multiple tabs and labeled Mouse Properties. The Buttons tab lets you adjust click speeds and button configurations. The Pointer tab allows you to change the graphics used by the pointer in different circumstances. Hardware just gives you information on the hardware that you might need when trying to deal with a hardwired issue. The Pointer Options tab is for advanced mouse functions, and the Pointer Options tab is what you’ll want to click on now to disable mouse acceleration.
- Under the Motion header of this tag, you’ll find a checkbox that says Enhance Pointer Precision. Checking this and clicking Apply will put it into effect. If you aren’t sure whether it’s what you want, you can test it out to determine whether or not you want it. Checking the Enhance Pointer Precision again will return mouse acceleration to normal.
How to Turn Off Mouse Acceleration: Mac OS
Mac’s products tend to be a fiercely closed ecosystem, and that means that more advanced tasks can be a bit more complicated. But most things are possible with just a little effort, and the ability to turn mouse acceleration off is one of them. You actually have a few options at your disposal.
Disable Mouse Acceleration With the Terminal
Users who are comfortable working in the Terminal can just enter the following command to change their mouse acceleration
defaults write.GlobalPreferences com.apple.mouse.scaling -1
You can adjust the number at the end of the command to turn the speed of mouse acceleration up or down to enhance pointer controls to your preference. The problem is that this is a time consuming process since the mouse scaling can vary from mouse to mouse, and you need to restart your Mac for the settings to take effect. That means a lot of testing out mouse speeds and then restarting your computer to get the perfect configuration.
Disable Mouse Acceleration With the Command Line
A script has been written by killmouseaccel that will automatically disable mouse acceleration and enhance pointer progression in the process. And since it continues as long as it’s running, you can turn acceleration back on by just restarting.
Using a Preference Panel
A Preference Panel is software that’s designed to help you control mouse speed. While it requires a download and needs to run on your computer, it’s easier to install a Preference Panel than use the techniques above – and it gives you greater control over pointer precision.
Wrapping Up
If you want better pointer precision, you’ll want to know how to turn off acceleration for your mouse. The instructions above provide the easiest ways to get that done, but we’d love for you to share your own opinions and experiences with this process with us.
