How to Fix Mouse Lag in PC Games on Windows 8.1

How to Fix Mouse Lag in PC Games on Windows 8.1

Windows 8.1 allows Windows to work better on high-DPI displays. As part of this, the way Windows deals with mice has changed. Games that don’t read raw mouse data may end up with laggy, freezing, or stuttering mouse movement.

This problem seems to primarily affect users with high-DPI or high-polling rate mice — in other words, gaming mice. Microsoft has only released a partial fix, but there’s a way to fix this problem in any affected game.

Install Microsoft’s Patch

Microsoft provides a patch that introduces a new compatibility option to fix this problem. As part of the patch, the compatibility option is applied to a variety of popular games, including games from the Call of Duty series, Counter Strike series, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Hitman Absolution, Half-Life 2, Metro 2033, Portal, and Tomb Raider.

This patch is known as KB2908279. As of November 14, 2013, this patch has not been rolled out via Windows Update. To get the fix, you’ll have to download the patch from Microsoft’s website and install it manually.

Depending on the version of Windows 8.1 you’re using, you’ll need to download either thethe 64-bit version of this patch or the 32-bit version.

If you’re not sure which version of Windows you’re using, press the Windows key to access the Start screen, type System, and click the System shortcut. Scroll down and look at the System type line.

Fix Other Games via the Registry

The patch above does two things. One, it creates a new type of compatibility flag in Windows. Two, it applies that compatibility flag to some of the most popular games affected by this problem.

If you have a less-popular game with this problem, you’ll need to apply the compatibility option to the game on your own. Microsoft advises game developers to do this themselves so their users won’t have to, but many games may never be updated with this fix.

You can apply Microsoft’s fix to any affected game from the registry editor. Note that you must have the patch above installed for this to work.

To get started, press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and press Enter.

Browse to the following registry key, or folder:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

The Layers key may not exist. If it doesn’t, right-click the AppCompatFlags key, point to New, select Key, type Layers, and press Enter to create it.

You’ll now need to create a new registry entry for your game. Right-click the Layers key, point to New, click String Value, type the full path of the game’s executable file, and press Enter. For example, if the game was located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Game\Engine.exe, you’d just type the following value:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Game\Engine.exe

Next, right-click the value you just created and select Modify. Type the following text into the box and press Enter:

NoDTToDITMouseBatch

You can now repeat this process to add every affected game you have.

Next, we’ll need an elevated Command Prompt window. To do this, press the Windows key to access the Start screen, type Command Prompt, right-click the Command Prompt shortcut that appears, and select Run as administrator.

In the elevated Command Prompt window, type the following command and press Enter to apply your compatibility settings:

Rundll32 apphelp.dll,ShimFlushCache

Warnings

Microsoft warns that this option will cause increased power usage, so you shouldn’t apply this option to unaffected games or other programs. In particular, they stress that this shouldn’t be applied to background processes that remain running, or your battery life will be noticeably affected.

There is another option Microsoft recommends — if the game In question has a “raw input” or DirectInput option, you can select it and the problem should be fixed.

How to Backup and Restore Signatures in Outlook 2013

How to Backup and Restore Signatures in Outlook 2013

You’ve created several signatures that you use for various types of emails. Then, you get a new machine and have to set up Windows and all your programs again. However, you can easily preserve your signatures in Outlook and restore them to the new machine.

Signatures are not stored in the .pst file Outlook uses for email messages. They are stored in the following location:

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures

There is an easy way to open this location from within Outlook. Click the File tab.

On the Account Information screen, click Options in the list of menu items on the left.

Click Mail in the list of menu items on the left side of the Outlook Options dialog box.

In the Compose messages section, press Ctrl while clicking on the Signatures button.

The Signatures folder opens in Windows Explorer. To backup your signatures, simply copy all the files in this folder to another location.

To restore your signatures, copy them from your backup location back into the C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures location. The next time you open Outlook, your saved signatures will be available. If you had signatures selected as default signatures for new emails and for replies and forwards, you’ll have to define those again.

NOTE: Each signature you create in Outlook exists in three formats: Plain Text (.txt), HTML (.htm), and Rich Text (.rtf). You need to backup all these formats for each signature.

How to Import Multiple Contacts into Outlook 2013 From a Single vCard (.vcf) File in Windows 8

How to Import Multiple Contacts into Outlook 2013 From a Single vCard (.vcf) File

If you have multiple contacts stored in a single .vcf file, and you try to import that file into Outlook, only the first contact will be imported. There is a way around this limitation that allows you to import all contacts from a single .vcf file.

First, you must convert the .vcf file to a .csv file that can be imported into Outlook. This can be done using the Windows Contacts folder that has been available since Windows Vista. You can import the .vcf file into the Contacts folder and then export the contacts into a .csv file. See our article for details on how to do this.

Once you have your .csv file, open Outlook and click the File tab.

On the Account Information screen, click Open & Export in the list of options on the left.

On the Open screen, click Import/Export.

On the Import and Export Wizard, select Import from another program or file from the Choose an action to perform list. Click Next.

On the Import a File dialog box, select Comma Separated Values from the Select file type to import from list and click Next.

On the next screen, click Browse.

On the Browse dialog box, navigate to the folder containing the .csv file you want to import. Select the file and click OK.

Select an option to indicate what to do when duplicate entries are encountered and click Next.

Select Contacts from the Select destination folder tree to specify where to put the imported contacts. Click Next.

A summary screen displays telling you what actions will be performed. Use the Change Destination button to change the location in Outlook to which the contacts will be saved.

NOTE: The Map Custom Fields button opens a dialog box that allows you to specify which fields in the .csv file correspond to which fields in Outlook. The default mapping is usually sufficient to import the information.

Once you’ve imported the contacts, click the People icon on the navigation bar at the bottom of the Outlook window.

You’ll see the contacts listed in the Contacts folder. You can select a different view, such as Business Card, in the Current View section of the Home tab.

If you’re using Outlook 2010, you can import contacts directly from the Windows Contacts folder without exporting them to a .csv file first.