Windows 8: How to Solve Mouse Problems

Here's a question from a long-time Infopackets reader with a fairly common problem:

"Dear Infopackets team,

I recently updated to Windows 8 Professional and find that I now have a mouse problem. I'm left handed. When using Windows 7, I easily configured the mouse so the right-side button operated as the main clicker.

Now with Windows 8, I find I must reset the mouse buttons every time I boot up the system. It just doesn't remember. Is there a way to make it stay the way I want it?

Thanks a bunch,

Werner V."

My response:

Dear Werner,

You can solve this mouse problem. One way is to hold down the Windows key and pressing 'X.' This brings up the "Power User Menu," where you can access the Control Panel. (Or you could just hit the Windows key and start typing "Control Panel" -- it gets you to the same place.)

There, select the "mouse" option and make the changes you wish. There are other ways to get to the "mouse" options, as well.

Download New Drivers for Your Mouse

But what you want is a permanent fix.

To get that, consider that a driver issue is probably preventing Windows 8 from remembering your customized mouse settings. (A driver is the software that gets a hardware device, like a mouse, to work with an operating system.)

Try visiting the website of your mouse's manufacturer. Check its support section to see if there are new drivers for Windows 8. If so, download and install them and see if that solves your mouse problem.

Windows 8 Mouse Settings

It's also possible that Windows 8 isn't automatically reloading your special mouse settings when it boots up. Check this by hitting the Windows key and then typing 'msconfig' (no quotations).

You'll see a window called System Configuration. Click the 'Startup' tab and look for entries with the name of your mouse's manufacturer. Make sure they are checked or enabled, then click OK.

Try restarting Windows to see if the mouse works properly now.

Finally, if you own a Microsoft mouse, you should try a program called Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center. You can find a link to it here.

If all these measures fail to fix your problem, consider borrowing a different make or model of mouse to see if that one works for you. If it does, don't fight the bad mouse. Just use the working one, instead.