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Microsoft Admits Windows 8.1 Update May Bork Your Mouse, Promises a Fix 326

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

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  • by Vegan Cyclist ( 1650427 ) on Sunday November 03, 2013 @07:15PM (#45321007) Homepage
    It's all borked..please be sure to fix the scroll button, too. The scroll speed is different each time i log in!!
    • by JMJimmy ( 2036122 ) on Sunday November 03, 2013 @10:07PM (#45322021)

      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.

      • by Lisias ( 447563 ) on Sunday November 03, 2013 @10:23PM (#45322097) Homepage Journal

        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.

      • by _xeno_ ( 155264 ) on Sunday November 03, 2013 @10:59PM (#45322295) Homepage Journal

        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 [microsoft.com]. 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.

      • Re: (Score:2, 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.

      • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday November 04, 2013 @01:20AM (#45322871)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • by msobkow ( 48369 ) on Monday November 04, 2013 @04:37AM (#45323421) Homepage Journal

          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.

      • by rdnetto ( 955205 ) on Monday November 04, 2013 @02:33AM (#45323069)

        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.

        • 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.

          The end result is good (you ditching Windows) but this is incorrect. Safe mode, delete the profile directory in C:\Users, then reboot and log in. The user profile will rebuild. Of course, all your shit is gone unless you backed it up first, but even then you still have to put things back and fix your settings again.

    • It's all borked..please be sure to fix the scroll button, too. The scroll speed is different each time i log in!!

      How about allowing all apps to have desktop shortcuts - not just some.

  • by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Sunday November 03, 2013 @07:17PM (#45321017)

    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?

    • by RyuuzakiTetsuya ( 195424 ) <taiki@co x . net> on Sunday November 03, 2013 @07:24PM (#45321077)

      Yes, if there was changes to the way mouse handling works.

      Apparently Windows 8.1 includes changes to how the mice/trackballs/etc work. Also, there's more than one way to interact with the mouse via the set of APIs available to windows developers. Some games exhibit odd mouse behaviors, some don't.

      This is a huge downside to the touted "backwards compatibility." Sure you're supporting a lot of apps, but a lot of those apps certainly do things the wrong way.

    • by fermion ( 181285 )
      The biggest problem with MS Windows was that it required a different device driver for common devices. Every time a USB drive was put in, a new device driver, and probably malware, was installed. With a camera, PTP was not implemented for a long time so device drivers were again needed. It is not surprising that they are continuing this device specific philosophy instead of adopting the open standards.
      • by mikechant ( 729173 ) on Monday November 04, 2013 @08:16AM (#45324263)

        Every time a USB drive was put in, a new device driver, and probably malware, was installed.

        It's even worse than that. It reinstalls the device drivers every time you plug the *same* device into a different USB port. I'd hoped this behaviour would go away when my WinXP work PC was replaced recently with a new Win7 PC, but no - plug USB headphones into each of the 4 front USB ports and it reinstalls the drivers 4 times. That's pretty brain-dead.

    • Good point... The "M" in KVM is kinda basic...

  • Valid reasons? (Score:5, Informative)

    by bhcompy ( 1877290 ) on Sunday November 03, 2013 @07:24PM (#45321079)

    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

    • Re:Valid reasons? (Score:4, Informative)

      by walbourn ( 749165 ) on Sunday November 03, 2013 @07:35PM (#45321151)
      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
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Opportunist ( 166417 )

        I sure hope those are not the killer, must-have features and you just omitted the ones that only a tiny subset of users could possibly care for.

        • DirectX 11.2 hardware support including tiled resources, Feature Level 11.1 hardware support, etc.

        Is there any game maker crazy enough to make games that are NOT compatible with a Windows version below 8?

        Much improved Direct3D capture support when using VS 2013 Graphics Diagnostics

        Since I don't even know what this might entail, I'm fairly sure that I don't really care too much about it.

        Native USB 3.0 support

        I don't really think that the hassle of installing a USB 3.0 driver in Win7 outdoes the hassle of having to deal with Win 8 in general.

        200% High-DPI scaling support

        See two features abo

    • by batkiwi ( 137781 )

      -Faster boot times
      -Better SSD support
      -less ram used by OS
      -storage spaces if you have a bunch of disparate disks and want data redundancy

      And you can boot to your desktop so you never see "metro" if you don't like it.

      • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 03, 2013 @08:23PM (#45321449)
        Windows 7-->Windows 8

        -Faster boot times
        -Better SSD support
        -less ram used by OS
        -storage spaces if you have a bunch of disparate disks and want data redundancy

        Conclusion: Windows 8 has a tiny amount to offer.

        Windows 7 or 8 -->Windows 8.1

        - you can boot to your desktop so you never see "metro" if you don't like it.
        - your mouse won't work.

        Conclusion: Windows 8.1 is essential if you hate working for someone. "Mouse no worky, I'm going to lunch."
      • Re:Valid reasons? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by cheater512 ( 783349 ) <nick@nickstallman.net> on Sunday November 03, 2013 @08:50PM (#45321617) Homepage

        Legit Question: If it needs less ram, then can you actually run it with less ram?

        It seems that line gets mentioned with every new release but it actually means ram usage quadruples.
        Remember that XP only needs 128mb of ram to function.

        • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

          by gl4ss ( 559668 )

          Legit Question: If it needs less ram, then can you actually run it with less ram?

          aahahahahhahaahahah .

          no.

          do you think those tiles work with zero ram? active tiles, with active code behind them you can't kill, which are displayed with high resolution buffers that need to stay in ram?

          I thought I upgraded to 8.1, but I didn't. it botched something. what I got was a fullscreen popup/reminder that I should update. I pressed yes, it started downloading.. but nothing has happened since. I suspect it's because I'm

    • I use 8 not 8.1. The only real noticeable improvement over 7 is startup time. My PC boots up in 10 seconds. It is on before I finish turning on my monitors.
      The full screen start menu bothered me at first, but I actually like it better now. Pretty much everything else is the same as Windows 7.
      A lot of people complain about the metro stuff but they are just being stupid. There is nothing forcing you to use the metro apps on a PC, just use the desktop versions.
      If you're building or getting a new mach
    • by antdude ( 79039 )

      Or XP SP3. Oh wait, newer games don't run on it. :(

  • Watermarks (Score:5, Informative)

    by Microlith ( 54737 ) on Sunday November 03, 2013 @07:24PM (#45321083)

    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.

    • Re:Watermarks (Score:5, Informative)

      by mastershake82 ( 948396 ) on Sunday November 03, 2013 @08:25PM (#45321461)
      • THERE! Thank you. No more watermark. I wonder if this was their fix for the other systems afflicted with this message.

  • by The Grim Reefer ( 1162755 ) on Sunday November 03, 2013 @07:28PM (#45321099)
    I guess that's one way to get people to use the Metro touch interface.
    • But what do those people do who don't have a touch screen? Ya know, the 99% of users suffering from the trainwreck.

      • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

        You means like most people with windows that don't downgrade to windows 8?

        Funnies aside, MS threw pretty much everyone with a desktop under the bus with w8 to get their failing phone OS more familiar with people.

  • To get people to use the touch interface.

    • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

      I am imaging the new range of after market rests, You know, keyboard rest, mouse rest and now touch screen rest, I thinking some sort of suspension system hanging from the ceiling, you know something you would see in a hospital for people with mangled arms.

  • by laffer1 ( 701823 ) <luke@@@foolishgames...com> on Sunday November 03, 2013 @07:41PM (#45321203) Homepage Journal

    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.

  • by richardw01 ( 2905181 ) on Sunday November 03, 2013 @07:47PM (#45321229)
    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.
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by FuegoFuerte ( 247200 )

      Interesting... that feature actually makes sense, in most contexts outside of gaming. I can't count the number of times I've called my laptop bad names because the cursor jumped while I was typing, due to me accidentally brushing against the touch pad. It's unfortunate it doesn't distinguish between a built-in touch pad and an external mouse though.

      • The Synaptics driver has this feature. Depending on how much your OEM spent on driver licensing, it might be turned off in your driver. If your laptop has anything but a Synaptics touchpad, it's a festering piece of shit.

  • by Cyfun ( 667564 ) on Sunday November 03, 2013 @08:03PM (#45321329) Homepage

    ...is to install Windows 7.

    Assuming there's driver support.

    • Pretty much.

      I wait a few years for each MSFT OS to mature before using it on my own machines. "New" Windows releases aren't exciting, they are an annoyance because they demand much change for little benefit.

  • by QQBoss ( 2527196 ) on Sunday November 03, 2013 @08:26PM (#45321473)

    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.

  • An OS update that breaks something that was working before?

    Only Microsoft....

  • I just did the update on my Surface today. Not a happy experience.
    Took 2+ hrs to download a 2.1GB install. Took another hour or so to install. Then download all the updates for another 30 minutes.

    Win8.1 borked a lot of things:
    1) Maps application on my Surface has stopped working
    2) Forcing signing to a Microsoft account when you restart until you fail signing in 3-5 times then it lets you do a local account
    3) IE has been crashing on me constantly. Could just be ESPN.com doing something weird. But it wa

    • Forcing signing to a Microsoft account when you restart until you fail signing in 3-5 times then it lets you do a local account

      I hated that. At least you could easily skip it in the original Windows 8 setup. The other solution is to disable network connectivity, it then will let you skip creation of a Microsoft account.

      It's probably the most underhanded way I've ever seen to try and herd people into your services.

  • no one in QA uses a mouse? WTF?
  • by Gordo_1 ( 256312 ) on Sunday November 03, 2013 @10:17PM (#45322071)

    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.

  • Windows 8.1 borking your mouse is an improvement over Windows 8, since 8 totally borked the user interface and basically took a reasonably good OS and turned it into a pile of shit so Microsoft could unload more tablets.

    • by hey! ( 33014 )

      I was OK with 8.0. I've reached the point where I hate the new versions of everything (except maybe XFCE, which is pretty much pitched toward people who hate the new versions of everything). The reason is all this struggle to revolutionize the user experience seems to have left the goals of making common tasks convenient for the user behind. Impressive but pointless seems to be à la mode these days, and designers appear increasingly incapable of distinguishing creativity from novelty.

      But given that

  • "I'm waiting for 8.1, dammit! Seriously!!!"

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