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Microsoft Admits Windows 8.1 Update May Bork Your Mouse, Promises a Fix

MojoKid writes "Microsoft has several valid reasons why you should upgrade to Windows 8.1, which is free if you already own Windows 8. However, there's a known issue that might give some gamers pause before clicking through in the Windows Store. There have been complaints of mouse problems after applying the Windows 8.1 update, most of which have been related to lag in video games, though Microsoft confirmed there are other potential quirks. Acknowledging the problem, Microsoft says it's also actively investigating the issues and working on a patch."

17 of 326 comments (clear)

  1. Valid reasons? by bhcompy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Microsoft has several valid reasons why you should upgrade to Windows 8.1

    What are these reasons? I'm being serious. I have yet to see a reason to upgrade from Windows 7 this soon in the game

    1. Re:Valid reasons? by walbourn · · Score: 4, Informative
      Actual technical content in a /. article... Hmmm. not sure if that's really an option, but here goes a partial list of stuff you get in 8.1 and not with 7:
      • DirectX 11.2 hardware support including tiled resources, Feature Level 11.1 hardware support, etc.
      • Much improved Direct3D capture support when using VS 2013 Graphics Diagnostics
      • Native USB 3.0 support
      • 200% High-DPI scaling support
      • Bitlocker has been improved, particularly when initializing a new drive
    2. Re:Valid reasons? by smash · · Score: 3, Informative

      The Windows 2012 R2 RSAT requires the Windows 8.1 client OS. There are a number of improvements in 2012R2 in particular with regards to hyper-v, directaccess, etc. Also (and this is the point for me in particular), Windows 2012R2 and Windows 8.1 have vastly improved PowerShell support (vs. Windows 7) for doing stuff from the command line. Yes, I know the UI is a bitch, but 8.1 fixes some of the Windows 8 brain damage, and if you're in any way involved in IT you owe it to yourself to keep up with the times so you can actually slam/praise whatever OS based on actual experience rather than hearsay.

      --
      I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
    3. Re:Valid reasons? by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Informative

      8 is the usual "odd" version of Windows. For generations of Windows, you could only use every other generation.

      Win95? Good.
      98? Average
      98SE? Good
      ME? (this space left blank in the name of good taste)
      XP? Good
      Vista? Crap
      7? Good
      8? Do I really have to say anything about it?

      So, essentially, if the history of Windows teaches us something, then to simply sit and wait 'til the successor of 8 emerges, and hope that our Win7 installations will tide us over.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. Watermarks by Microlith · · Score: 5, Informative

    And give me the ability to hide that stupid "Secure Boot isn't configured correctly" watermark sitting on my desktop! I have it turned off for a reason, I don't need to be harassed constantly about it.

    1. Re:Watermarks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      to microsoft, that notice is and was not a "bug" it was a feature designed to scare people into having secure boot on, insuring that only microsoft-authorized operating systems would run on that hardware.

    2. Re:Watermarks by Microlith · · Score: 4, Informative

      It was only a bug when it appeared on systems with secure boot enabled, on systems without secure boot, and on Windows RT devices. It still appears on my system because I explicitly turned it off. Now I want to hide the notification.

    3. Re:Watermarks by mastershake82 · · Score: 5, Informative
  3. It isn't just MS Mice by laffer1 · · Score: 3, Informative

    SteelSeries mouse drivers will cause the Windows 8.1 upgrade to fail.

    Microsoft really screwed something up with the Windows 8.1 mouse drivers. They really need to get this fixed.

  4. There is a simple fix by richardw01 · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's a simple fix... they added some new mouse settings that cause the mouse to stop working while typing with a small delay... the settings are buried in the metro UI.... here is how to fix it: 1. Go to the windows setting in the metro UI, for me I just put my mouse pointer in the upper right of the screen until the "search, share, start, device, settings" pop up appears, click the settings icon. 2. click on the change PC settings at the bottom. 3. Click on PC and devices. 4. click on mouse and touch pad 5. under the touch pad settings set the delay to no delay.

  5. Mouse works fine, Sandy Bridge HDMI not so much by QQBoss · · Score: 2, Informative

    I installed 8.1 and the first two things I noticed- 1) it reset my icon size to medium, which on my 2560x1440 monitor looks ridiculous and given how they imported all my other settings... why? and 2) the HDMI output of my motherboard stopped working. After installing 8.1, I did some searching and apparently Sandy Bridge was not included in Intel's beta driver development for graphics for 8.1 and there is no known development being done for Sandy Bridge, so if I want to continue using my computer to communicate via the HDMI port to my television I need to upgrade to an Ivy Bridge, drive my 'small' 2nd monitor off of VGA (no fscking way, but supposedly analog ports off of S.B. are working fine- I haven't tested it), or upgrade my video card to one that can drive a 3rd (non-DP) monitor. Yes, I could also switch my DVI 2nd monitor to the mobo and put my TV into the HDMI on my video card, but that causes some really strange window relocation issues when waking out of sleep- I have tried that in the past.

    For people using only on-board video via HDMI to their sole monitor and without a desire to upgrade S.B. or buy a new computer, it must be enraging. I guess I am lucky, upgrading this motherboard (ASRock Extreme4 Gen3) to Ivy Bridge was something I was planning to do this month, anyway. For Intel not to include Sandy Bridge, a chip only about 2 years old, in their driver development for 8.1 is pretty lame. A Microsoft suggestion was to reinstall the Intel video drivers with compatibility settings for Win 7 or 8, but that didn't work for me.

  6. Re:..and mouse scroll. by Lisias · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm still not confident in Linux's ability to remain stable/repair itself easily without having to frequently re-install.

    I'm using a Linux box for 4 years, without a single reinstall. Of course, I'm using a "more professional" one.

    Be aware that there's more than a single Linux distro, and not all of them focus on stability or security. The ones that focus on mimicking Windows tends to mimic it too much accurately, in my humble opinion.

    --
    Lisias@Earth.SolarSystem.OrionArm.MilkyWay.Local.Virgo.Universe.org
  7. Re:..and mouse scroll. by _xeno_ · · Score: 4, Informative

    Wow, you sure found a lot more problems with Windows 8.1 than I did. Really, I only had one problem with it: when booting, after making it past the Windows logo, it just sits at a black screen. You can move the mouse around at this black screen, but you can't log in or do anything.

    Other than it crashing to a black screen on boot, I've had no problems with Windows 8.1.

    Well, OK, I've posted about this on Slashdot before, and finally got it fixed. Apparently Windows 8.1 decided to nuke the drivers that came with my laptop and use broken ones instead. Reinstalling the original drivers fixed everything. So, thanks for that, Windows 8.1 upgrader.

    And because they're still hilarious, here are Microsoft's instructions for booting Windows 8/8.1 into Safe Mode. Note that the instructions to enter Safe Mode requires the computer to be booting successfully. Also note that they tell you that you can't use F8 to boot into safe mode any more, but don't tell you that it's now shift-F8. The bit about Windows 8 giving you no chance to hit this is actually true; I wound up powering off the laptop during boot to "trick" Windows 8.1 into taking me to the recovery menu. (As getting to the black screen counted as "booting" as far as Windows cared.)

    Shift-F8 does work, by the way, if you get lucky and hit it in that incredibly short window that the OS checks for it.

    --
    You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
  8. Re:..and mouse scroll. by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 1, Informative

    Re-installs all the garbage you've spent hours uninstalling (bing/news/finance/etc)

    Hours uninstalling? That's not even hyperbole that's just an outright lie. This is how long it takes to uninstall all of the metro apps:

    1) Click Start.
    2) Right click on every app.
    3) Click uninstall at the bottom.

    Shouldn't take more than 10 seconds.

  9. Re:They're doin' it wrong by Luckyo · · Score: 4, Informative

    This update breaks mouse in GAMES.

    So your update breaks games entirely. A pretty steep downgrade.

  10. Re:They're doin' it wrong by locopuyo · · Score: 1, Informative

    You can't turn mouse acceleration off on OSX without using third party software. It is pretty bad.

  11. Re:..and mouse scroll. by msobkow · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's not even "adding a button." It's adding a button *graphic* in the lower left corner where there was *always* a "hot spot" to click for bringing up the menu windows.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.