My Mouse Pointer is auto selecting when hovering over a hyperlink in Windows 11

Question

My Mouse Pointer is auto selecting when hovering over a hyperlink in Windows 11

Barb Gainey 25

I have purchased 2 laptops in the past 3 months. One is a Dell 16 Plus and the other is a Samsung Book 4. The mouse drivers have not been updated since 2006 and there is not one to be had. When the pointer hovers over any live link, it opens the page., countless pages at a time. Deleting emails is a nightmare. I am truly frustrated beyond belief.

The Dell was fine at first. After a couple of weeks, it started to go rogue. I double checked to make sure the activate on hover was not checked. I contacted Dell support, they remotely got into my PC and tried for 2 days to fix it with no luck. I have had several lengthy conversations with Copilot and tried everything he suggested with no luck. He further investigated and came to the conclusion one of the windows updates caused it. Same story with the Samsung.

These are perfectly decent laptops, less than 6 months old and a huge investment. I would be anxious to hear if you have a solution for these issues or am I just SOL. Thank you for your time.

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Answer 1

Emma1-N 13,430 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Welcome Barb Gainey,

I understand how frustrating this must be, especially after experiencing the same behavior on two relatively new laptops and already spending significant time with Dell Support and Copilot trying to resolve it.

To help narrow this down, could you please let us know:

Are you using the built-in touchpad, an external USB mouse, or both?
Does the issue occur in all applications (such as Outlook, Edge, Chrome, and File Explorer), or only in specific apps?
If you disconnect any external mouse and use only the touchpad (or vice versa), does the behavior continue?

In the meantime, please try these checks:

Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Mouse > Additional mouse settings
- On the Buttons tab, ensure ClickLock is disabled
In the same Mouse Properties window, open the Pointers tab
- Click Use Default and then Apply
Open Settings > Accessibility > Mouse pointer and touch
- Verify that no accessibility or dwell-click features are enabled
Test in a Clean Boot environment:
- Press Windows + R, type msconfig, and press Enter
- On the Services tab, check Hide all Microsoft services, then select Disable all
- Restart the PC and test whether hyperlinks still open automatically when the pointer hovers over them.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Yes". If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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Emma1-N 13,430 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-10-01T04:04:18.45+00:00

Hello Barb Gainey,

I just wanted to check if my previous response addressed your question correctly. If there is anything I may have misunderstood, I would truly appreciate it if you could provide a bit more detail to help me better understand your needs.
Barb Gainey 25 Reputation points

2026-10-03T20:10:03.1366667+00:00

Yes, I got it. Then life's chaos showed up. I will investigate your suggestions soon. Thank you.
Emma1-N 13,430 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-10-06T07:47:42.27+00:00

Hello Barb Gainey,

Thank you for the update. No problem at all, and I hope everything is going well.

When you have a chance, please try the steps from my previous reply and let me know the results, especially whether the issue occurs with the touchpad, an external mouse, or both.