Mouse stickiness change with multiple monitors after Windows 8.1 Update 1: Bug or feature?

Anonymous

There is a new bug that won't let the mouse to the other screen unless you move the mouse quickly across the monitor edge. Before, this would only happen on the corner edges to allow easier access to the charms and apps bar. Now, it happens to the whole edge.

These four videos demonstrate that the mouse stickiness issue happens in both desktop and metro mode and that it is inconsistent - only happening sometimes. I hope these videos help paint a clear picture of what is going on.

Desktop Mode

http://youtu.be/-0mrPXXtkfw No bug

http://youtu.be/3TVYvu4Yi5g Bug

Metro Applications

http://youtu.be/hOEeo9r0xs8 No bug

http://youtu.be/b-Usdhnvl3A Bug

Is this issue already known and will there be a hotfix, or is this a new feature?

November 12th 2014 Update

Mouse stickiness still a problem as of today for Windows 8.1. As of Windows 10 Build 9879 which was released today, the mouse stickiness is fixed! This mouse stickiness only happens when dragging a window around and is used to assist in snapping windows. Outside of this, the stickiness issue is gone! I think this was what Microsoft intended to do with the mouse stickiness, but I believe it was a hard bug to diagnose, but they finally fixed it!

November 2nd 2014 Update

Mouse stickiness still a problem as of today for Windows 8.1. As of Build 9860 of Windows 10 Technical Preview, the mouse stickiness bug/feature has started happening.

June 9th 2014 Update

Still no official word from Microsoft. I have found a fix, but it is more of a workaround. Just don't use any metro apps, and it should be fine. Very rarely you will get the stickiness again. If it does occur anyways just press WIN + P and click Duplicate. After all monitors are duplicated, press WIN + P again and then click Extend to go back, and the mouse stickiness issue should be gone.

May 16th 2014 Update

According to Shawn "Cmdr" Keene \[MVP\] at the end of page 2, this is NOT a bug and it is an intentional design. I hope that Shawn is incorrect and would like further verification by an employee of the Windows development team.

There is also a "fix" by editing some registry values, but this removes the mouse stickiness on the corners and makes it very hard to access the apps and charms bar in between monitors. I do not believe this is a fix to the problem.

May 5th 2014 Update

Still no word from Microsoft that this is a bug or feature.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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56 answers

@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2014-12-17T20:19:07+00:00

This isn't absolute, and there are exceptions, but generally when a Windows version is finished ("RTM" as it were), the duties of maintaining it get passed on to the ongoing maintenance delivery team, and they only change code if it is a security vulnerability or causing a crash. Undesirable behavior generally doesn't get touched (unless it is causing a crash or security issue), which is how those hangnail-like annoyances that every version tends to have will remain (such as Windows 7 explorer jumping the scroll position to a terrible location but at least in that case, Classic Shell comes to the rescue).

But yeah, for the most part any change in actual behavior, even if it's an all out bug, are probably not coming until the next major release.

Maybe they'll surprise us though.
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Anonymous

2014-12-17T20:09:29+00:00

I'm so glad I found this thread and am not the only one. I use a Surface Pro 3 at work in a dock (with 2 monitors) and like to use metro apps on the surface screen while using desktop apps on the monitors. This bug (and yes, it's a bug when it affects the entire border between the 2 monitors, which are only used for Desktop apps not metro) this bug has been driving me insane. If it's fixed in Windows 10, why isn't it fixed in Windows 8.1? Please tell me they're not abandoning 8.1 already?
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Anonymous

2014-11-24T03:35:45+00:00

That sounds awesome to me. Shift is usually the "suppress the default" key (hold shift on startup to skip the startup folder, hold shift when putting in a CD to prevent auto-play, etc.)

I'd eve welcome the reverse: hold shift when you want to snap

Please get your idea in the feedback app :)

Agree 100%. You should only have to hold a key when you WANT to snap. I have 4 screens (2 landscape in the middle and 2 portrait on each side) and am constantly dragging windows all over the place. The few days I was on Windows 10 with this feature were incredibly tedious having to make sure I dragged my mouse extra fast when moving windows between monitors to avoid this feature.
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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2014-11-24T01:47:45+00:00

That sounds awesome to me. Shift is usually the "suppress the default" key (hold shift on startup to skip the startup folder, hold shift when putting in a CD to prevent auto-play, etc.)

I'd eve welcome the reverse: hold shift when you want to snap

Please get your idea in the feedback app :)
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Anonymous

2014-11-23T01:56:13+00:00

November 12th 2014 Update

Mouse stickiness still a problem as of today for Windows 8.1. As of Windows 10 Build 9879 which was released today, the mouse stickiness is fixed! This mouse stickiness only happens when dragging a window around and is used to assist in snapping windows. Outside of this, the stickiness issue is gone! I think this was what Microsoft intended to do with the mouse stickiness, but I believe it was a hard bug to diagnose, but they finally fixed it!

But how do we stop this behaviour?!?! The previous fixes have worked thus far for the mouse sticking on it's own. Now it's INCREDIBLY tedious dragging Windows around unless I use extreme mouse speeds.

They should add something like...hold CTRL or ALT while dragging for no snap/assist.
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