Why does my cursor speed slow down when my system is under intense network usage?

On some occasions of computer usage, my mouse acts very strangely. Whenever my computer is under intense network usage (i.e. watching an online video, downloading an application, patching a video game), my mouse cursor slows down, and sometimes gets to the point of being completely unresponsive.

No matter how high I place the cursor speed, my cursor refuses to act normally. It travels very slow, sometimes not moving at all, and sometimes moving in short bursts. My left and right click functions might not function and as does my scroll wheel. However, my keyboard works perfectly and is just as responsive as it was before.

Whenever these intense network using instances are closed, the mouse nearly instantly returns to a normal, functioning state.

Incase some hardware & software are needed, I can supply a few:

Hardware

i7-4770k @ 4.5GHz OC from 3.5Ghz
32.0GB (4x8GB) RAM @ 1.6GHz OC from 1.3GHz DDR3
daskeyboard Model S Wired Mechanical Keyboard w/ MX Brown Switch
Cyborg R.A.T. 9 Wireless Mouse @ 6400 DPI

Software

Windows 7 Ultimate Service Pack 1

Some Applications that induce this behaviour

Google Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer streaming internet video from YouTube
Steam when patching various games

opop9266

Posted 2014-06-29T23:46:05.747

Reputation: 21

This sounds like a classic example of a failed overclock. Did you make sure your CPU doesn't throttle under load? Because if it does, your overclock actually makes it slower. (Was it overclocked by someone who knows how to overclock modern CPUs? What's the peak temperature under load?) – David Schwartz – 2014-06-30T02:39:33.063

Network usage causes DPC/ISR usage and this has larger priority than the mouse driver and so you have small lags. – magicandre1981 – 2014-06-30T03:57:29.790

@David - I've OC'd several machines in my life and I am sure I have dont it correctly, and the core temperature has no effect whatsoever on my cursors speed, it is only based on network traffic. Running P95 the cursor moves perfectly even when the processor is under full load, but when only running a browser process and simply downloading a large file, the cursor slows down. – opop9266 – 2014-07-01T00:20:30.967

Then it sounds like a network driver or network hardware problem. What kind of network interface do you have? – David Schwartz – 2014-07-01T02:51:03.567

Please run ProcessExplorer at the same time and look if DPC/Interrupts are high – magicandre1981 – 2014-07-01T04:19:59.733

Answers

It's most likely one of or a combination of rendering lag, which would be your graphics card/GPU bouncing between the mouse and everything else, or poor wireless connection to your mouse. If your mouse requires any software beyond basic drivers to operate, that software may be throttled by running other intense software. I know Steam can be pretty intensive, and the same for your browsers, especially if you're streaming HD or have too many tabs/windows open.

player3

Posted 2014-06-29T23:46:05.747

Reputation: 121

Are you connected via WiFi when you experience the slowdowns of the mouse cursor? If so, it would be that both your wireless mouse and WiFi are using the 2.4GHz frquency. When your computer is utilizing high amounts of network traffic, it could cause the WiFi transmitter to be emitting more signals than usual (rightfully so), thus causing interference with the wireless mouse communications.

Try connecting to a wired connection if you are not already, and turn off WiFi (Windows will still use WiFi if you are connected to both at the same time). Alternatively, try using a wired mouse and see if that helps.

I've experienced this issue on two completely different laptops years apart, one which was Mac with a Core 2 Duo and the other Windows with a Core i7, so I doubt it is a software or driver issue.

TheKarateKid

Posted 2014-06-29T23:46:05.747

Reputation: 195

-1

You have a vbscript malware which antimalware etc cant detect. It will affect all your systems conected to your router. Try ti find a fix about it or run a cloud Antimalware scan ... im also having this issue after i downloaded a wrong exe file

Sajad

Posted 2014-06-29T23:46:05.747

Reputation: 1

1Without offering some evidence of this claim your answer is pure conjecture. Can you explain how you know the OP has malware? – I say Reinstate Monica – 2018-05-02T01:49:15.267