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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."
Wow just wow now what enterprise app will get messed up with other stuff in windows 8 / 8.1 that was not tested before updates?
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
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.
I guess that's one way to get people to use the Metro touch interface.
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.
MidnightBSD: The BSD for Everyone
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.
...is to install Windows 7.
Assuming there's driver support.
In Soviet Russia, dot slashes YOU!
> Another satiesfied Microsoft customer?
Well, yes. We use it because for one reason or another, we have to, usually because a commercial product is required, and we complain bitterly about it -- who, that didn't actually work in Redmond, wouldn't? (Actually, that's not entirely true -- even there, people complain, but quietly, to trusted friends.)
As to FOSS, yeah, my website and blog and my daughter's blog all run on a Linux box I administrate, using software I partly wrote, and if all I ever did in life was use EMACS to pound out Python, I'd drop Windows in a heartbeat. But some of us have things to do that can't be had from sourceforge.
Mind you, I'm hanging onto Windows 7 with both hands. We have a touch screen laptop running Win8, and it's junk. Maybe it'll run Android some day.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I just want you guys to know that as a developer I have been debugging what I believe to be the side effects resulting from these changes all week. It's not just "mouse co-ordinates" that are affected, you have some very common APIs scaling window co-ordinates in totally unexpected and inconsistent ways now. You have totally broken certain application behaviors, and only in 8.1, and while I found a workaround for my use case I can also see that the workaround I'm using will break more things for others.
Next time you ask yourselves, "should we make these APIs suddenly behave differently than in all older versions of the OS?" there should be a very, very high barrier to saying yes, especially for a service pack release.
You're not kidding - things I've found wrong with it so far (less than 5 hours of use):
- Takes 1-2 hours to install [facepalm]
- Corrupts some Win8 Xbox game saves
- Adds UEFI watermark which can only be removed by installing an update (requires reboot too)
- Changes your folder/theme settings without permission
- Changes the folders setup in Windows Explorer to promote Skydrive (ya right!) and buries everything useful at the bottom
- Re-installs all the garbage you've spent hours uninstalling (bing/news/finance/etc)
- Doesn't restore the start button, just adds a button to bring up the full screen start
- Creates interface lag/"hiccuping" across all programs
- Removes the lease offensive drop corner\
- Enabled touchpad clicking on my mouse, despite the ELAN options showing it as disabled
- Forces powder blue backgrounds on tiles which make reading difficult (no personalization option to change it)
- Pins IE to the taskbar
Everything in Win8/8.1 is counter to productivity and just makes me want to switch to a new OS, unfortunately I wasn't able to downgrade this system to Win 7 64bit and I'm still not confident in Linux's ability to remain stable/repair itself easily without having to frequently re-install.
still released it that way in spite of the problems. Arrogance is the only logical explanation.
This has been a well documented problem from earlier preview builds and was specifically not fixed in the RTM code because... well because MS seems to think it can make unilaterally bad UI decisions again and again and get away with it.
Try setting your Win8.1 display to 150% on a 1920x1200 monitor. This is exactly where I've used WinXP, WinVista, Win7 and Win8, yet in Win8.1, a random assortment of applications (including many MS utilities and 3rd-party programs) deliver barely readable fuzzy characters. At least in Win8.0, you could set a master switch to tell the OS to disable DPI scaling, but in their infinite wisdom, some group within MS decided that to hell with useability, they're going to simply remove the master switch and force ALL users to disable DPI scaling on an app by app basis, making it bloody well a gargantuan effort to avoid either fuzzy or tiny text.
It's absolutely appalling... About as appalling as MS deciding that Win8.0 users shouldn't be able to boot into desktop mode on a non-touchscreen device and then completely removing the start menu as if giving the middle finger to the existing install base was some kind of magical shortcut back to a dominant market position.
If you're arrogant, but generally make good or at least non-destructive UI decisions, most people will forgive you. When you're arrogant and make butthead UI decisions, well, then you're MS.
They've managed to marry Apple's arrogance with butthead UI decisions.
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
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.
This update breaks mouse in GAMES.
So your update breaks games entirely. A pretty steep downgrade.
At least Microsoft support won't call you a stupid noob to your face.
That's right what they will do is joke about it with their friends while you are on hold and after you hang up.
Been there seen that.
What pissed me off the most is how they pushed the "bringing back the start button" in the press when in reality all it is is a shortcut for the fucking Metro start screen. This is why I call it "WinGoatse" as like a Goatse it was all just a trick to get you to go for it and isn't what you were expecting at all.
What I have found here in the trenches is the only "work" folks want done on Win 8 is to remove the thing, I haven't seen this level of hatred from the public since WinME, even Vista wasn't THIS hated. They can give 1-100 SPs but until they let users have the choice of REALLY getting rid of the "LULZ I Iz A Cellphone LULZ, check out me appstore LULZ" bullshit I have a feeling my best business is gonna be in getting rid of 8 and selling Win 7 units.
BTW just FYI but if you wanna go back to Win 7 download the trial of Driver Magician and choose "update drivers" followed by Win 7 X64, they usually have access to drivers for just about any piece of hardware and so far I have yet to run into a piece of hardware that I couldn't "downgrade" to Win 7..
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
I'm still not confident in Linux's ability to remain stable/repair itself easily without having to frequently re-install.
I would say Linux is superior to Windows in that regard. I used to need to reinstall Windows yearly to keep the system running well, but after I changed to Linux the only times I've needed to reinstall it were when upgrading to the latest version of Ubuntu*, or changing distros.
Actually, the main impetus for the switch came when my user profiles under Windows got corrupted and there was no way to recreate them without reinstalling it. Under Linux, the same problem is trivial to fix - just delete/rename the home folders and everything gets regenerated.
*While you can upgrade without reinstalling, I've never trusted it after doing the same with Windows a few times ended badly. Since then I've changed to a rolling release distro, and now I don't even need to do that.
Most human behaviour can be explained in terms of identity.
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.
Sure, Windows 8 is fine... after you replace the UI shell.
Please tell me why that makes Windows 8 OK? That you have a third-party workaround does not mean the original problem isn't still there.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...