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How to turn off the mouse acceleration feature on a Windows 10 computer, to get more accuracy with your mouse

computer mouse
It's easy to turn off the mouse acceleration feature in Windows 10. Shutterstock
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In principle, mouse acceleration is a helpful feature in Windows 10 — it proportionally increases the movement of your mouse pointer based on the speed with which you move it across the screen. 

That way, you reach your target faster, and work more efficiently. Unfortunately, it also means you're far more likely to overshoot your target, which is annoying in daily use and extremely frustrating when playing games, where accuracy is critical. 

The good news is that it's easy to turn off — you just need to disable the ironically named "Enhance pointer precision" setting, which does exactly the opposite of what its name implies. 

Here's how to do it. 

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How to turn off mouse acceleration in Windows 10

1. Click the Start button and then click the Settings icon, which is shaped like a gear. 

mouse 1
Start by opening the Settings app.  Dave Johnson/Business Insider

2. Click "Devices" and then, in the pane on the left, click "Mouse."

3. Click "Additional mouse options."

mouse 2
You need to open Additional mouse options, which opens the old-style Windows Control Panel.  Dave Johnson/Business Insider

4. In the Mouse Properties dialog box, click "Pointer Options" to switch to the Pointer Options tab.

5. Clear the "Enhance pointer precision" checkbox.

mouse 3
Turn off Enhance pointer precision to disable mouse acceleration.  Dave Johnson/Business Insider

6. Click OK to close the dialog box.

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Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.