Windows 11: Enhance Pointer Precision explained

Windows 11 and previous versions use the mouse feature Enhance Pointer Precision by default. This guide helps you understand what the feature does and why, in some cases, it may be better turned off.

What is Enhance Pointer Precision? Put simply, it is designed to improve the accuracy of slow mouse moves.

Maybe you have tried to target a very specific pixel on the screen. Say, a smaller than usual scrollbar, a button or link that is tiny, or anything else that needs precise movements.

Enhance Pointer Precision makes “the pointer work more accurately when you’re moving the mouse slowly” according to Microsoft.

While that may be useful in some cases, it can introduce problems in certain apps or games. Take first-person shooter games as an example. You need to be precise in them, but mouse movement is often rapid.

If you do not want Windows 11 to apply its pointer precision algorithm in those cases, you may turn it off.

Turning off Enhance Pointer Precision

You may toggle the mouse preference in the Settings app. Here is how that is done:

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Launch the Settings app from it.
   • Tip: you may use the shortcut Windows-I to launch the Settings app.
3. Go to Bluetooth & devices > Mouse.
4. Set Enhance Pointer Precision to Off to disable the feature.

Chance is, you may not see a difference right away. It depends on several factors, including the mouse and its movement.

Tip: you may want to test the change. If you ran into issues with the mouse in certain apps or games, launch those and start tests.

You can undo the change at any time by setting the preference to On again.

Registry offers more control

You may also modify the relevant settings in the Windows Registry. While most users may not need to do so, it is offering more options.

Here is an overview of the available keys:

• MouseThreshold1 — If mouse movement exceeds this value, cursor speed is doubled.
• MouseThreshold2 – If mouse movement exceeds this value, cursor speed is quadrupled.
• MouseSpeed — The speed of the mouse cursor.

The two threshold values need to be higher than the value of MouseSpeed.

Here is how you change those values

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Type regedit.exe and press the Enter-key.
3. Confirm the security prompt by selecting Yes.
4. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse.
5. Double-click on MouseSpeed, MouseThreshold1, and MouseThreshold2 respectively to change the values.
6. To turn Enhance Pointer Precision off, set all values to 0.
   • To enable the feature again, set the values to 1, 6, and 10.

Tip: you can experiment with different values to see if the adjusted parameters work for your use cases.