Having complete control over your mouse movements is crucial for many of the popular modern-day, computer activities.
Whether you want to be a more precise gamer or just looking to hone your muscle memory for the mandatory daily tasks, disabling mouse acceleration on your computer is the first step to achieving that.
If you want to learn how to turn off mouse acceleration and why it’s important to do so, keep on reading as we cover everything you need to know in this thorough guide.
Without further ado, let’s get started.
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Disabling Mouse Acceleration Windows 10
The Windows mouse acceleration feature is also known as “enhance pointer precision” as that’s the name used in the Mouse Properties panel.
If you ever come across any of those two terms, know that both “mouse escalation” and “improved pointer accuracy” refer to the same feature.
If you want to disable windows 10 mouse acceleration, follow the step-by-step guide below:
- Press Windows + S simultaneously on your keyboard to open the Windows search box.
- In the search box, type in Mouse Settings,then press Enter on your keyboard to initiate the search.
- Once the panel opens, click on Additional Mouse Options located on the right side, as shown in the image below.
- In the Mouse Properties panel that just opened, click on Pointer Options in the top-bar menu, and then “untick” the box right next to the Enhance Pointer Precision feature.
- Confirm the changes by clicking the Apply and OK buttons located at the bottom of the panel.
That’s it!
You’ve now successfully disabled the Windows 10 mouse acceleration feature.
It will require some time to adapt to the fresh mouse motion, but once that’s done, you’ll experience a more steady and accurate cursor action, and your muscle memory will carry over to various computer tasks besides regular daily usage.
If you want to enable Mouse Acceleration again, just repeat the exact same steps and check the box next to the feature, just like you did before turning it off.
Now that you know how to turn mouse acceleration on and off, it’s time to take a look at some of the best reasons to do so.
Benefits Of Disabling Mouse Acceleration In Windows 10
There are multiple benefits of disabling mouse acceleration in Windows 10, but before we get into that, let’s take a moment to explain what this feature is and how it impacts the user’s experience.
So, what is mouse acceleration?
The Windows 10 mouse acceleration feature (also known as “enhance pointer precision”) is a built-in option that when enabled, makes the cursor on your screen cover a greater distance depending on how fast you drag your mouse across the mousepad, and not based on the distance your mouse traveled.
Although for the average computer user this can be a beneficial feature that makes the everyday computer work easier and require less hand movement, the downside is that in the long run, it can lead to inconsistencies and make you unable to ever really master your mouse sensitivity and DPI settings.
Here’s a super simple video that explains what mouse acceleration is, how it works, and when it should be used.
Note: Mouse acceleration is not the same as mouse DPI. For a detailed explanation of what mouse DPI is, take a look at our comprehensive guide covering that topic.
One of the main reason computer users disable mouse acceleration is for gaming, as that’s a competitive activity that requires a lot of precision, especially in first-person-shooter games, and keeping the setting enabled will make the user unable to develop proper muscle memory.
Besides gamers, professional graphic designers or other users whose job depends on precise and consistent mouse movements also benefit from this change.
So, to conclude, the main benefits of disabling mouse acceleration Windows 10 are:
- Better muscle memory, both for everyday computer use and in competitive gaming.
- Fewer inconsistencies as you’ll always know how much to move your mouse to get the cursor from point A to point B, regardless of the speed at which you move it.
- A true connection between your mouse and cursor movements on your screen instead of an artificial feeling that doesn’t correspond well with the distance your hand travels.
If you’re a gamer and want to know more about mouse acceleration Windows 10 feature and its effects in some of the most popular competitive video games, take a look at the next section where we cover more about that in detail.
Mouse Acceleration In Gaming
Whenever we want to learn which settings are optimal to use in our favorite video games, we look at professional players as they’re always the most informed on what’s best for their in-game performance.
However, although this can often apply to various technical settings, such as motion blur which isn’t used in competitive gaming, ever, it’s a bit different for mouse acceleration.
Surprisingly, there are some professional FPS players who use mouse acceleration, but the rest of the player base, which is roughly ninety-nine percent, have the setting turned off.
Based on those simple statistics that you can find on ProSettings’ Gear List & Settings Page, the general conclusion is that mouse acceleration should be turned off in high-precision FPS games such as Counter-Strike, Valorant, Rainbox Six Siege, Escape From Tarkov, and others.
Now, if you are a user who prefers having the mouse acceleration setting turned on for regular computer activity, but want it disabled while playing competitively, most of the popular video games allow you to enable what’s called “Raw Input” in the settings menu.
In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, for example, you can make the game ignore the Windows 10 mouse acceleration setting and read the settings directly from your mouse by typing in “m_rawinput 1” in the developer console, or by “toggling” the raw input settings switch in the Mouse & Keyboard tab within the settings menu.
Valorant has this setting too, and it’s also called Raw Input within the game’s settings panel.
There may be some games that have this feature named differently, but it’s almost always there for users to enable and disable in some of the most popular competitive titles, even if the game is not a first-person shooter by genre.
Frequently Asked Questions & Answers
These are some of the most frequently asked questions we see posted by users when the Windows 10 mouse acceleration feature is discussed.
We advise you to disable the mouse acceleration Windows 10 or 11 setting if you are a competitive gamer and want to master the mouse movements, as well as have a “direct connection” with your mouse when using your computer.
As mentioned earlier in this guide, if you have already gotten used to the feel of mouse acceleration, it will take you some time to get used to the no-acceleration feeling. However, although this may be a bit difficult in the beginning, it’s well worth doing it as it will yield many benefits in the long run.
You don’t need to change your mouse sensitivity to compensate for the acceleration (you’re free to do so if you feel like it’s mandatory), you just need to get used to the change.
In most cases, disabling mouse acceleration will make your in-game aim much better. The reason for this is that your hand and mind coordination will greatly improve as the distance your mouse needs to move for the cursor or crosshair to reach a specific spot on your screen will always be the same.
Once your brain memorizes this, you should become a much better and more consistent gamer.
Conclusion
That’s everything you need to know about the Windows 10 mouse velocity feature. Hopefully, the information in this guide will make things much clearer to you regarding the use of this configuration and whether or not it’s the right choice for your daily computer activities.
Keep in mind that there are always individuals who prefer the use of such settings and are successful with it even though the majority of other users vote against it, which is a clear indicator that personal preference is what matters the most.
