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Have you ever noticed how your mouse moves overly quickly even though you only moved it a short distance?
Or maybe you’ve accidentally jerked your mouse too fast and missed your Minecraft shot? That is because of something called mouse acceleration, and while it can be helpful at times, it is typically best to turn it off.
Keep reading to learn about mouse acceleration and how to turn it off!
What is Mouse Acceleration?
Mouse acceleration is an optional setting in your computer operating system. The mouse acceleration feature increases the mouse speed of the curser based on how fast you move your physical mouse rather than the actual physical distance you move it on the mouse pad.
Mouse acceleration is an excellent feature for office work and regular web browsing. This is because it allows you to perform a cursor move based on speed instead of physical space, you can cover the entire screen space with less movement.
This puts less strain on your wrist, arm, elbow, and shoulder, making it a nice ergonomic feature.
But for PC gamers, especially professional gamers and others who like to play first-person shooters such as Call of Duty or Counter-Strike – mouse acceleration has a detrimental effect.
Why is it Useful to Turn off mouse acceleration?
Turning mouse acceleration off is helpful because it gives you a more realistic feeling of your mouse movements and cursor in-game.
Initially, it might feel like you reduce the mouse sensitivity, but it gives you more control and is a huge benefit in gaming because it allows for more precise movements.
Another reason gamers prefer to have mouse acceleration off is because it allows them to build proper muscle memory in their games. It allows for more accurate mouse movements, and they do not have to worry about a quick wrist flick throwing off their aim.
In other words, disabling mouse acceleration will give you more precise mouse movements and a better gaming experience.
Why you should consider turning off mouse acceleration in Minecraft
Minecraft isn’t a high-paced shooter game, so it might not seem obvious why you should still consider turning off mouse acceleration. But there are several reasons.
Turning off mouse accelerations will make it easier to control your cursor when mining but also for fighting – especially when using bows and arrows
Another situation is for building. Most Minecraft players have tried repeatedly attaching a block at the wrong place because of imprecise mouse pointer moves.
So if you have difficulty mining, fighting, or building, you should turn off mouse acceleration in Minecraft.
Give it time. There’s a learning curve.
You should expect that it takes some time to get used to the new feeling.
After turning this setting off, you will see an immediate change in how your games play. It will probably take some time to get used to if you have been using mouse acceleration for most gaming days.
You will probably have to spend extra time figuring out the perfect sensitivity settings for your mouse while playing Minecraft.
It will feel much smoother once you have given yourself time to play around without mouse acceleration.
This content was first published on GamersNotAllowed.com
How to turn off mouse acceleration in Minecraft on Windows
Now that you know why mouse acceleration is useful to have turned off, here is a quick step-by-step guide on turning it off quickly and easily.
1. Open the Windows Control Panel
First, you will need to open the classic Windows control panel. This is the control panel from Windows 7 and earlier, not the settings app from Windows 8 and 10.
To open the control panel, press your Windows key + R to open the Run command prompt. In the search box, type in control, and then enter.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
This will pull up the classic control panel, which can be seen below.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
2. Navigate to Mouse Settings -> Hardware and sound -> Mouse
Once you have pulled up your control panel, you must navigate to your mouse settings.
First, ensure your control panel shows categories to find the mouse settings. If not, you can change the display setting in the top right corner, as shown below.
Click on the Hardware and Sound category, which will open up another menu with an assortment of options.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Underneath Device and Printers, there will be a link that says “Mouse.” Click it, which will open your mouse settings menu named Mouse Properties.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
3. Turn off Mouse Acceleration via Pointer Options
Now that you have the mouse properties window opened, there should be five tabs: Buttons, Pointers, Pointer Options, Wheel, and Hardware.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
The Mouse options menu will open automatically on the “Buttons” tab when first opened.
You want to go to the Pointer Options tab to turn off mouse acceleration.
The “Pointer Options” tab has several options, but you want to look at the “Motion” section.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
4. Disable Enhance Pointer Precision
While it may appear there isn’t a mouse acceleration setting initially, look under the pointer speed slider. Here you’ll find something called “Enhance Pointer Precision.”
To turn off mouse acceleration, uncheck the box next to Enhance Pointer Precision.
5. Hit Apply to save the new setting
Finalize turning off your mouse acceleration by pressing Apply at the bottom of the menu screen to save your new settings.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
And there you have it! Your mouse cursor will now react to your physical moments, not the speed you move your mouse at.
Conclusion
I’m old enough to remember when a computer mouse had a ball underneath.
At that time, a computer mouse wasn’t very precise, and you had to move your hand and arm a lot to get the mouse cursor from one part of the screen to the next.
And all the dirt the ball collected caused a lot of random unnecessary friction and movement of the cursor on the screen.
Luckily, today’s gamer mice are in a different league. Today, a gaming mouse has an optical element such as a laser, a high DPI, is incredibly precise, and offers fast movement in shooter games.
Turning off the acceleration settings for fps games will give you more control over the movement of the mouse pointer and offer overall better gaming performance.
This is because in-game movements will now be based on the actual physical movement of your mouse instead of the speed you move it.
Likewise, turning off mouse acceleration in Minecraft will make it easier to control the speed of your mouse and make it easier to mine, fight, and build.
While turning off mouse acceleration can seem complicated, it isn’t. Follow the above guide, and you will enjoy precise Minecraft movements in no time!
If you enjoyed this guide, check out my other guides about Minecraft, like the best budget computers for Minecraft. Until next time, happy mining!
FAQ
Q: Why is my mouse cursor moving so slowly?
A: If you find that your mouse cursor is moving slowly when playing a game, there are three things you should check. First is your sensitivity settings, second is your mouse DPI (if it has a changeable DPI), and finally, whether or not the bottom of your mouse is clean.
Q: Can you turn mouse acceleration off on any version of Windows?
A: You can turn mouse acceleration off on Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11.
Q: Does my DPI affect mouse acceleration?
A: While DPI is related to your pointer speed, mouse acceleration does not affect your DPI.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jan has played video games since the early 1980s. He loves getting immersed in video games as a way to take his mind off stuff when the outside world gets too scary. A lifelong gamer, the big interest led to a job as a lecturer on game sound at the University of Copenhagen and several written articles on video games for magazines.