On Windows 10, the mouse is an essential component that allows you to navigate and complete actions on the desktop and applications quickly and more efficiently.
However, a mouse can only be efficient if you configure its settings to meet your requirements. Since it’s a peripheral that receives analog inputs, and the preferences will always vary per individual. For example, some people may prefer to move the cursor fast (especially in a multi-monitor setup), and others prefer a slower speed to make it easier to execute actions and keep track of the pointer on the screen more easily.
Related: Best PC mice in 2020
Whatever your preference might be, Windows 10 includes at least two easy ways to adjust the mouse speed sensitivity using the Settings app and Control Panel to help use the device more accurately.
In this Windows 10 guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to adjust the mouse speed on your computer.
- How to change mouse speed using Settings
- How to change mouse speed using Control Panel
- How to change mouse speed using Registry
How to change mouse speed using Settings
To adjust the mouse speed on Windows 10, use these steps:
- Open Settings.
- Click on Devices.
- Click on Mouse.
- Use the Cursor speed slider and change the setting to the desired speed (slow or fast).
Once you complete the steps, the mouse speed will change to the level you specified.
If you’re in the market for a new mouse, we recommend the Logitech MX Master 2S, since it’s a wireless mouse that you can use on virtually any computer running Windows 10. It has exceptional battery life, great features to make it easier to navigate the desktop, and it’s affordable.
How to change mouse speed using Control Panel
To change the mouse speed with Control Panel, use these steps:
- Open Control Panel.
- Click on Hardware and Sound.
- Click on Devices and Printers.
- Click the Mouse option.
- Click the Pointer Options tab.
- Under the “Motion” section, use the slider to adjust the speed sensitivity.
- Click the Apply button.
- Click the OK button.
After you complete the steps, you can start using the mouse pointer with the speed you specified.
How to change mouse speed using Registry
Alternatively, you can also adjust the sensitivity of the mouse by modifying the registry.
Warning: This is a friendly reminder that editing the Registry is risky, and it can cause irreversible damage to your installation if you don’t do it correctly. It’s recommended to make a full backup of your PC before proceeding.
To change the mouse speed modifying the Registry, use these steps:
- Open Start.
- Search for regedit and click the top result to open the Registry.
- Browse the following path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelMouse
Quick tip: On Windows 10, you can now copy and paste the path in the Registry’s address bar to quickly jump to the key destination.
- Double-click the MouseSensitivity key and set the value to any number from 1 to 20 to set the desire speed.Quick tip: Usually, the default value is 10. Anything below this number will make the mouse pointer slower, and anything higher will make it faster.
- Click the OK button.
- Restart your computer.
Once you complete the steps, the speed of the mouse should be reflected after restarting the device.
You can always revert the changes by using the same instructions, but on step No. 4, make sure to set the value to 10 or the previously configured value.
— Update: 19-03-2023 — us.suanoncolosence.com found an additional article How to change Mouse Settings in Windows 11/10 from the website www.thewindowsclub.com for the keyword winmouse change mouse settings on windows 10.
To modify how the mouse or touchpad works, you start by opening the Control Panel. The quickest way to get there is by pressing the Windows key and searching for Control Panel in the Start menu. Click on Control Panel from the results to launch it.
In the Control Panel applet, search for mouse in the box in the top right-hand corner of your screen and click on Mouse from the results. This takes you to the Mouse Properties window, where you make all the settings.
How to change Mouse Settings in Windows 11/10
The first mouse settings we’ll explore are regarding the buttons. In this section, I’ll show you how to modify the way the mouse buttons work. Below are the mouse button settings we’ll explore in this section:
- Switch the functionalities of the left and right mouse buttons.
- Change the double-click speed.
- Select or drag-and-drop items without holding the mouse button.
In the Mouse Properties window, switch to the Buttons tab and continue reading to learn how to go about the mouse button modifications listed above.
1] Switch the functionalities of the left and right mouse buttons
The left mouse button is primarily used to select items in the Windows system. Clicking once picks the item, and double-clicking opens it. The right mouse button brings up the context menu for items selected or clicked.
To attribute the left mouse button’s functions to the right mouse button and vice versa, navigate to the Mouse Properties window following the above steps.
In the Buttons tab, go to the Button configuration area, and mark the Switch primary and secondary buttons checkbox. Hit the OK button to save the modification.
2] Change the double-click speed
Double-clicking on an item on your computer opens it up. This applies to shortcuts, folders, files, etc. The default double-click speed in Windows is half a second (500 ms).
If this is too quick or slow for you, you can also modify the speed from the Mouse Properties screen. Here, go to the Double-click speed area and drag the slider to adjust the double-click speed.
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3] Select or drag-and-drop items without holding the mouse button
To select or drag-and-drop icons and other items, you need to hold down the left mouse button. If that’s too much of an inconvenience, there’s a better way to do it using the ClickLock function.
With ClickLock, you only have to click the item(s) and hold it down for a few seconds. After this, you can let go of the item and select more or drag the item.
To enable ClickLock, navigate to the Mouse Properties window following the above guide and mark the Turn on ClickLock checkbox.
To reduce or increase the time you hold down the click, click on the Settings button, and move the slider to the left (reduce the speed) or right (increase the speed).
Hit the OK button to save the ClickLock settings, and click on the OK button to save and exit the Mouse Properties window.
Read: Mouse Settings or Properties reset on restart
Change how the mouse pointer works & looks
The mouse pointer is the primary pointing feature of your computer, and you may want to customize its looks or functionalities. We’ll explore the following settings in this section:
- Change the mouse pointer’s appearance.
- Adjust the speed and precision of the mouse pointer.
- Show mouse pointer trails.
- Hide the mouse pointer when typing
Navigate to the Mouse Properties window by following the steps above. Here, switch to the Pointers tab and use the guides below to tweak your mouse pointer.
1] Change the mouse pointer’s appearance
To change the look of the pointers, look through the Scheme dropdown list and pick a new one. We published a detailed guide on changing the mouse and pointer color scheme.
If you wish to change the look of the pointer in a specific scheme, select a scheme and select a figure you want to modify from the list under Customize, hit Browse and pick one.
Click on the OK button to save your changes.
2] Adjust the speed and precision of the mouse pointer
Navigate to the Pointer Options tab in the Mouse Properties window. You can increase the mouse pointer speed in the Motion area by dragging the slider to the right or left. Left reduces the speed and right increases it.
If the pointer speed is too fast or slow, it may be tough to point at items accurately. Mark the Enhance pointer precision checkbox to improve the pointer’s accuracy.
For even quicker mouse pointer action, go to the Snap To area and select the checkbox beside Automatically move pointer to the default button in a dialog box.
3] Show mouse pointer trails
You may experience the issue where your mouse pointer moves erratically slowly. Also, the pointer may be too fast and hard to locate when you move it. Having a trail behind the arrow helps in these situations.
Check the Display pointer trails checkbox, which is still under the Pointer Options tab of the Mouse Properties window.
Finally, Click on the OK button to finish. You may also want to adjust the length of the pointer trails. Do this by dragging the slider towards long or short.
4] Hide the mouse pointer when typing
The mouse pointer can obstruct your typing and block some texts. If you type a lot on your PC, you can hide the pointer from the Pointer Options tab. In the Visibility section, click on the checkbox for Hide pointer while typing and hit OK.
If you lose track of where your pointer is, you can always find it by pressing the CTRL key. For this, you must first enable the Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key option.
Read: Useful Mouse Tricks for Windows users.
Change how the mouse wheel works
The main function of the mouse wheel is to scroll up and down a page on your PC. It also acts as a third mouse button, but we’ll focus on the scrolling function here.
Here’s what I’ll show you:
- Adjust the number of lines per vertical scroll.
- Adjust the number of characters per horizontal scroll.
Similar to the above sections, you can find the mouse wheel settings on the Mouse Properties screen by going to Control Panel and searching for Mouse. Click on the Wheel tab and follow the guides below.
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1] Adjust the number of lines per vertical scroll
On the Wheel tab, you’ll find the Vertical Scrolling settings. You can either set the wheel to scroll per line or go to the next screen with one scroll.
To scroll per line, click on the first option under Vertical Scrolling and select the number of lines.
Read: How to reverse Mouse and Touchpads scrolling direction.
2] Adjust the number of characters per horizontal scroll
Horizontal scrolling moves the cursor across characters on your screen, and it’s especially useful when you type. If your mouse doesn’t support horizontal scrolling, but you need this feature, here’s how to change the mouse wheel from scrolling vertically to horizontally.
Below the Vertical Scrolling settings is that for Horizontal Scrolling. It’s set to 3 characters by default, but you can change it to any number you want.
TIP: If you prefer to customize your mouse functionality using a third-party tool and get even more options, you can use WinMouse.
— Update: 19-03-2023 — us.suanoncolosence.com found an additional article How to change mouse settings in Windows 10 from the website www.onmsft.com for the keyword winmouse change mouse settings on windows 10.
Windows 10 gives you a range of customisation options for your mouse, so you have flexibility in how your cursor behaves. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the available settings and the impact they have on your pointer.
Before we get going, it’s worth mentioning that Windows 10’s mouse settings are still split across Control Panel and the Settings app. The Settings app’s Mouse page is currently extremely basic and contains only one option you won’t find in the Control Panel.
Primary mouse button and scroll wheel
We’ll head to Settings first, so open the app (Win+I keyboard shortcut), click the “Devices” category and then navigate to the “Mouse” page from the menu.
The page lets you customise the scroll wheel’s operation and change which mouse button acts as the primary one. The mouse wheel can be made to scroll through lines or entire screens (as if you pressed the Page Up/Page Down buttons), and you can customise how many lines or screens should be scrolled at once.
The last toggle button on the page, “Scroll inactive windows when I hover over them,” is the only mouse setting not available in the Control Panel. This feature was new for Windows 10. Per the description, it lets you scroll the contents of any window on your desktop by hovering over it and using the mouse wheel. You don’t need to switch focus to the window first, addressing a long-standing complaint with previous versions of Windows. You’ll probably want to keep it enabled most of the time.
The rest of Windows’ mouse settings are tucked away in the Control Panel. You can access them with the “Additional mouse options” link to the right of the Mouse settings page. This will bring up the “Mouse Properties” popup which hasn’t changed much through generations of the Windows operating system.
The first tab of this screen provides three options. The first is duplicated from the Settings app and lets you customise your primary mouse button. The second lets you change when double-clicks are registered – if you find Windows isn’t detecting when you double-click, or is making false positive matches, you can use the slider and test area to finetune how long a double-click has to last.
ClickLock
The final option on the page controls a little-used accessibility feature called ClickLock. When it’s enabled, you don’t need to hold down your mouse button when clicking and dragging. Instead, you hold the button briefly, which starts the selection. You can then release the button, move the mouse to complete your selection and press the button again to confirm the operation. It’s intended primarily for people who may find it hard to depress the mouse button for an extended period of time.
The second tab of the Mouse Properties dialog enables you to change the presentation of your cursor. You can pick and choose from the themes installed on your device, or specify your own images to use for different cursor states.
Pointer speed and sensitivity
The Pointer Options tab is more directly applicable to your mouse’s operation. The first set of options are related to the movement of your cursor. You can control how fast the cursor moves, enabling you to reduce or increase the effective sensitivity of your mouse.
There’s also an “Enhance pointer precision” checkbox, which dynamically adjusts the effective sensitivity relative to how fast you move the mouse. When you’re moving slowly to select a small button, Windows will adjust the sensitivity on-the-fly to keep the cursor motion precise. If you have a gaming or professional mouse, you should note that both the pointer speed and precision options may conflict with the DPI and sensitivity settings offered by your mouse.
The second section of the Pointer Options tab controls “Snap To,” an accessibility feature which automatically moves your cursor as new popups open on your screen. Your cursor will automatically “snap to” the default button in each popup, so you don’t need to move your mouse to press “OK.”
Finding the cursor
Finally, the “Visibility” section lets you control when the cursor should be hidden. You can disable automatic cursor hiding while typing with the “Hide pointer while typing” checkbox.
Using the “Display pointer trails” option, it’s possible to display pointer trails that track your mouse across the screen if you have difficulty following your cursor. A final usability tweak is “Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key” – a self-explanatory checkbox which can come in handy for those “lost my mouse” situations.
That’s it for Windows’ mouse settings. We’re not covering the other Mouse Properties tabs; Wheel is duplicated in the Settings page we described while Hardware lists technical information about your mouse. It’s possible you’ll see more tabs in Mouse Properties depending on your specific device – for example, many laptop touchpad drivers add additional pages here which let you customise their operation.
Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-change-mouse-speed-windows-10