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How to Fix Mouse Stuttering, Lagging and/or Jumping Around [Solved]

How to Fix Mouse Stuttering, Lagging and/or Jumping Around [Solved]

All of a sudden, your mouse can start stuttering, lagging and behaving completely crazy, jumping around on the screen like it’s controlled by another entity.

This is what happened to me over the weekend (because this kind of problems seem to only happen when you have some extra time for yourself) and it drove me crazy: nothing seemed to make sense, the batteries of my wireless mouse were fully charged, and everything else seemed fine. Still, my mouse was stuttering and lagging and refusing to accept my commands.

Eventually, I did manage to find a solution to my problem and today I am here to help you if you’re in the same situation. Today, we’ll learn how to fix mouse stuttering, jumping around and lagging on your computer or laptop.

Mouse Stuttering, Jumping Around and / or Lagging – fixes

It usually is a wireless mouse that can cause these problems, but as you will see some can even apply to wired mice as well.

Usually, the mouse stuttering is caused by your router. If the router is close to your device, it will interfere with the signal of your wireless mouse, causing lagging, stuttering and erratic movement. These problems can be fixed by simply moving away from the router.

The internet suggests a ton of potential fixes and I have tried them all, without any luck or improvements of my situation. You can imagine how relieved I was when I found the actual culprit. So while I will also list other potential fixes, make sure to test the router first as this is the most likely reason for your problems.

The behavior of my mouse was very strange: it would work perfectly fine for a shorter (or longer) period of time, without any jumping or stuttering, and then all of a sudden it started to lag and act all crazy for a while.

I had my Wireless Router positioned right next to my computer and apparently it somehow decided to interfere with the signal my wireless mouse was sending, and this caused all the lagging and stuttering and jumping around.

It’s very easy to test and see if the wireless router is causing your mouse problems: just turn off your router and wait for a few seconds. If everything goes back to normal and your mouse works as it should, then this is it – this is what was causing the mouse stuttering in the first place!

In order to fix your mouse lagging and stuttering problems in this case, all you have to do it move your Wireless Router at least 3 feet (1 meter) away from the computer. Or, of course, move the laptop/mouse away from the router itself.

The more space you can get between the two, the better! Or you can always get a classic wired mouse and keep your router where it used to be – but it’s usually a lot easier to just move the router away.

This managed to miraculously solve my mouse stuttering and lagging problems and I am sure it will help you as well.

NOTE: Any other type of wireless / bluetooth device that’s near your mouse’s USB port might cause the same problems, not just a wireless router. So test them all to make sure that there’s no interference on this matter, even if things used to work fine in the past.

Other potential causes and fixes for your mouse stuttering problems

While I am sure that in at least 90% of the cases, it’s the router that it is causing all the problems, just in case it’s not, here are some other things you can try to fix your mouse from jumping around.

1. Double check the batteries

Make sure that the batteries are not empty or nearly empty (or the mouse needs recharging). Either situation could cause the mouse from behaving strangely, although it’s usually just lagging that happens in this situation.

2. Clean up your mouse’s sensor

The sensor is the shiny, usually red light on the bottom of the mouse. If a small dust particle or hair gets in the way, it can really make your mouse behave strange.

Simply use a dry cloth to clean the sensor and blow over it a couple of times for extra safety and try it again – sometimes, the particles messing up with the sensor can be too small to be seen, but they could still exist.

3. Make sure that the USB port is working fine.

Double check that there are no problems with the USB port you have your mouse/wireless adapter plugged in: simply test your mouse on another computer/laptop and see if it works normally. If it does and none of the other fixes here seem to do the trick, it’s most likely that your USB port decided to go crazy.

Alternately, simply switch the USB port your mouse is plugged in to see if things change or improve. This is unlikely to be the cause, but it’s worth trying it if nothing else works.

4. Use a mouse-friendly surface

Make sure that the surface you’re using your mouse on is mouse friendly. If you’re not sure, the best thing would be to get a mouse pad and place it on a flat surface when using your mouse (your bed sheets are not considered a flat surface!)

Mice are evolving a lot these days, but they still have various surfaces they won’t perform well on. Make sure to read my recommendations for the best mice for iPad or best gaming mice for small hands to upgrade your mouse to a really high quality one.

5. Turn of Aero if applicable

In Windows 7 and above, try turning off advanced visual settings like Aero, especially if your computer or laptop is an older model. These might interfere with your wireless mouse.

In order to turn off the Aero Options, right click anywhere on your desktop and select “Personalize”.

In the new window, choose any of the themes under the “Basic and High Contrast themes” and you’ve disabled Aero, which uses up quite a bit of resources and might be the cause for mouse stuttering and lagging.

Conclusion

You have multiple solutions to the mouse stuttering problems above, but I personally believe that in most cases, it will be the Wireless Router interfering with the signal sent by your wireless mouse, and moving the Router away or your laptop away from the router will fix your problem instantly.

If not, at least some sort of interference will be the cause of the mouse stuttering problems you’re experiencing, so shut them off one at a time (or all together) to see which is the culprit.

Did you manage to find other solutions to this problem? If you did, don’t hesitate to help others in a similar position by sharing your solutions below.

Scene

Wednesday 23rd of November 2022

I've realized that if my phone is between my mouse and it's receiver, or if the phone is too close to the mouse, I get the same problem. Move the phone away, everything works.

Jaton

Thursday 19th of December 2019

Thanks so much, for me it wasn't my router but I dumbly put my (bluetooth headset dongle) and my (wireless mouse dongle) in USBs positioned right next to each other on my laptop, i've now separated them and even the sound stuttering with music has cleared up. Sometimes the problem is so simple I overlook the simplicity of the solution.

Michael Lederer

Thursday 28th of November 2019

I tried all the solutions posted online and none of these worked for me. Disabling Aero for me was unacceptable. My issue persisted on both my custom PC builds running Windows 7 64 bit OS and Windows 10 64 bit OS. Both had plenty of memory and CPU bandwidth. I tried cleaning the optical sensor, positioning further from electronics that may interfere including my router, moving closer to the wireless mouse sensor, updating BIOS and drivers, restoring my OS, adding RAM, disabling browser hardware acceleration, modifying msconfig advanced options and advanced system settings, modifying system properties settings including visual effects and virtual memory page file, disabling services, uninstalling & reinstalling software, you name it and to no avail. I finally gave in and bought another mouse and the problem went away which indicated that it was specific to my Logitech All In One Keyboard with an Anywhere MX mouse. I was able to resolve the issue by disabling Logitech's Smart Move setting. After disabling Smart Move my Logitech mouse stopped stuttering/lagging. I hope this helps.

Calin Ciabai

Thursday 28th of November 2019

Thank you for sharing your fidings, Michael. I am sure it is helpful.

Mark

Tuesday 6th of August 2019

I have been going nuts with re-installing software, reboots, standing on one foot while reciting the alphabet backwards. Thank you!!!

Calin Ciabai

Sunday 11th of August 2019

You're welcome! Happy to hear this worked.