Dealing with your mouse constantly freezing during video games can be extremely frustrating, especially if you’re into competitive gaming. Even if you consider yourself a high-level gamer, a mouse that repeatedly freezes can result in the game being ruined for you and everyone on your team.
There are a number of reasons why your mouse might be freezing during games:
- Your computer could be freezing up
- Your mouse might be defective
- The battery in your mouse might be dying or dead (if it’s a cordless mouse)
- There could be dust particles or debris stuck on the laser of your mouse
- Your PC/laptop specs are too slow to run the game you’re playing
- Your mouse drivers aren’t updated or corrupt
- Your mousepad would be worn out or not ideal for the mouse you’re using
- Your BIOS drivers are outdated
- …and more!
While dealing with a mouse freezing can be more than annoying, fortunately, there are a number of things you can do in order to resolve the issue. If none of these options work, you’ll want to consider upgrading your equipment.
How to Stop Your Mouse From Freezing In-Game
1. Ensure Your Computer Isn’t Overheating
If you’ve got a laptop or desktop computer, you need to know how to keep it from overheating.
The first step is to make sure your computer is in a place with good ventilation—not in a tight corner with all the windows closed, or on top of your bed. If you can’t move your computer, use fans and other cooling devices to help circulate air around it.
Second, find out how hot your computer gets. You can check the temperature by opening up the case and using a laser thermometer; or if you have a MacBook model, go into System Preferences > Energy Saver, and click “Show…>” under the “Temperature” section.
Third, if your computer gets too hot, it might shut down automatically. That’s why it’s important to check the temperature every now and then.
If your computer isn’t shutting down by itself after an extended period of time (like while you’re at work or school), then open up its case and let some air circulate through it for a while before putting it back together.
2. Disable the Cortana Assistant
Cortana is a virtual assistant developed by Microsoft. While it seems strange that a virtual assistant would interfere with the mouse, it should be noted that it isn’t the strangest feature to cause problems within Windows.
Disabling Cortana could solve your problems. If you don’t use the assistant on a frequent basis, disabling it could improve performance by freeing up a bit of system memory.
- Press Ctrl + R to open the Run command.
- Type Regedit and click Ok to open the Registry Editor
- Browse the menu to the left until you find the following path (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search) or copy and paste it into the address bar at the top. Remove the parentheses.
- If an AllowCortana value has been set already, double-click the value to access its properties and set the value to 0.
- If the AllowCortana value hasn’t been set, right-click and select New -> Dword (32-Bit) Value and set the Value data to 0.
- Cortana has now been disabled. Restart your computer.
3. Update/Reinstall the Mouse Drivers
Always make sure that your computer or laptop is running the most up-to-date operating system. If it’s not, you may be missing some important updates that could affect how well your computer performs.
Without applicable updates, it could affect the way your mouse performs, causing it to potentially freeze during gaming sessions.
This goes the same for mouse drivers.
Depending on the type of mouse you have, you’ll want to uninstall the drivers for it and reinstall it again. You can download it from the official website of whatever manufacturer you purchased your mouse from. Make sure that all drivers are updated before gaming again.
If there are no specific drivers for your mouse, simply uninstalling the current drivers and restarting the computer should reinstall the drivers. Below you’ll find a step-by-step guide.
- Search for Device Manager in Windows search
- In the list of Devices, look for the Mice and other pointing devices option.
- Right-click the device and select Uninstall Device
- Restart the computer
4. Update the Graphics Card Drivers
Outdated graphics card drivers can cause the mouse to freeze in game. Updating them on a regular basis a good way to minimize bugs and maximize performance. Where you’ll be able to find the drivers varies depending on the model and make of your graphics card.
Owners of custom-built computers often know what GPU the computer has. If that’s the case for you, search for the card on the manufacturer’s website and look the drivers there.
If you’re on a laptop, simply search for the laptop model on the manufacturer’s website and look for drivers. The model name should be stated on the label underneath the laptop. You can also find information regarding the model by going to System Information in Windows.
5. Make Sure Your Computer Can Run the Game
If your mouse freezes during video games and you’re sure that the culprit isn’t the mouse, there is a good chance that your computer is too slow to keep up with the demands of the game. You can solve this problem by upgrading your computer or installing more RAM.
First, you’ll want to find a list of computers that are compatible with the video game you’re playing. Check out the specs online for each one and see which one best fits your needs.
In most cases, you’ll be able to upgrade your current computer by installing more RAM—and if you can’t do that yourself (or don’t want to), you can always take it to a technician to do the job for you.
6. Get A New Mouse Pad
If you’ve ever seen someone playing on an old-fashioned wooden desk with no mouse pad at all—and even though it looks like they might be using magic because their mouse is still perfectly responsive while they’re playing.
Then you know what we mean: A good gaming mouse pad can make all the difference in whether or not your mouse freezes up during gameplay.
7. Dead Battery In the Mouse
Sometimes your mouse freezing can be caused by a dead mouse battery.
If you think your mouse might be experiencing freezing because of a dead battery, try this:
- Unplug the mouse from your computer and open up the battery compartment. You should see two or three AA batteries inside. If there are three, remove all but one (if there are two, remove both).
- Plug the mouse back in and wait for it to start working again. If it doesn’t work after five minutes or so, unplug it again and replace the missing batteries—the ones you removed earlier—back into their slots. Then try plugging it back in again.
- If your mouse still doesn’t work after doing this twice in a row, then unfortunately there’s something else going on with it that needs to be addressed before you can use it again
8. Dust/Debris In the Mouse
One of the most common causes of mouse freezing is dust. You may have noticed that your mouse works better when you clean it. That’s because dust gets between the rollers and causes them to stick, causing your mouse to freeze up.
If you have a laptop, then there’s not much you can do about this problem unless you take apart your computer and clean it out yourself (not recommended). But if you have a desktop computer, then all you need to do is unplug your keyboard and mouse and use compressed air to blow out all the dust.
9. Close Applications
One common cause of a mouse freezing is having too many programs open at once. When you have a lot of applications running in the background, it can make it hard for your computer to keep up, especially an outdated one.
If you’re having trouble with this, try closing some programs or just restarting your computer to free up some memory.
10. Update BIOS
Your basic input/output system helps the computer communicate with the connected hardware. Sometimes, outdated BIOS can cause peripherals, such as the mouse, to stop working as intended.
Installing the most recent BIOS version could prevent your mouse from freezing when playing games.
Now, if the term BIOS is new to you, you’re probably wondering how to find which version you’ve got and where you should look for the most recent version. That’s totally understandable.
You can do this in two different ways. If you’re using a laptop with a model name (e.g HP Elitebook 840 G5), then you would go to the manufacturer’s website and search for the product. Once on the product page, look for a tab called Drivers or Support. Alternatively, google the model name + the word drivers.
If you’ve got a custom-built computer without a model name, search for System Information in Windows. Then look for Baseboard Version, Manufacturer, and Product. Using that information, search for the most recent BIOS version for your motherboard on the manufacturer’s website.
11. Check USB Ports
Faulty USB ports can cause the conncetion to fail at times. This could cause your mouse to suddenly freeze when you’re gaming.
The problem could be with the computer’s ports or the mouse’s USB-plug. Troubleshoot the device by trying multiple USB-ports, and try unplugging everything except for the mouse.
If you have the possiblity, run the mouse on a different computer and see if the same problems arise. If your mouse is connected to a Bluetooth connector, try doing the same with the Bluetooth connector to see if it functions as intended in another port or with another computer.
12. Make Sure the Laser Isn’t Blocked
Most mice registers movement through a laser located on the bottom of the mouse. If the laser is blocked off by something, the mouse won’t be able to register movement.
13. Run a Virus Scan
If your computer is infected with a virus, the virus could be causing your equipment to go haywire. It’s rare for malware to only affect peripherals, as there’s little economic gain in disabling keyboards and mice compared to gaining access to personal information.
Some people don’t care about getting your personal information though. They simply want to send bothersome viruses out into cyberspace for the kick. Running a virus scan or re-installing the computer completely should ensure the removal of any malicious software.
If you’re running Windows 10 you’ve got access to Windows Defender, which is Windows built-in defense system, including a virus scan feature.
- Right-click the Windows symbol in the lower-left corner
- Go to Settings
- Go to Update & Security
- Click Windows Security in the right-side menu
- Click on Virus & Threat Protection
- Run a Full scan. You can choose the type of scan you want to run by clicking Scan Options.
14. Stop Realtek Audio
That audio devices can interfere with computer mice has been brought up a lot on forums all over the world. Using on-board sound is not optimal for gaming, and the drivers often install other lag-inducing updates, which can cause the mouse to stutter or freeze in game.
Thankfully, simply terminating the audio seems to reverse the problem.
- Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and go to the Task Manager
- Click More Details and go to the Processes tab
- Select the Realtek HD Audio Manager Process and click End Task
See if the mouse starts working as intended now that the process has been terminated. If not, disable the audio device.
- Search for Device Manager using the Windows search bar
- Expand the Sound, video and game contollers option
- Right-click on the Realtek Device and click Disable Device
15. Try A Gaming Mouse
There is a good chance that your mouse freezes during video games because it’s not optimized for gaming.
What you need is a mouse that has been designed specifically to give you the edge when it comes to gaming.
Our mice are built with high-performance sensors that are optimized for gaming. With an optimized mouse, that means you’ll get the highest possible performance during your game.
Optimized mice have customizable buttons that let you program them exactly how YOU want them, so there’s no need to learn complicated button combinations or memorize button sequences—just press the buttons on your mouse and let them do all the work!
16. Start Over With New Products
If you’re a gamer, you know that your mouse is one of the most important parts of your setup. It’s not just about having the right mouse because of how well it performs, but also using the right mouse to prevent it from running into issues.
When you’re looking for a new mouse that won’t cause you any issues, look for a couple of these key factors:
- Length of cable
- Sensor response
- Weight of the mouse
Sometimes when you’ve exhausted all of the options available to you, it’s best to just bite the bullet and purchase a brand new product.