How to move your mouse cursor without a mouse
Posted on June 26, 2008 at 5:13 am
Recently I wrote an article on how to right-click using your keyboard and I hope it was useful. But maybe your computer mouse is broken, or you left it at your Grandma’s house during your last visit, or your touchpad simply isn’t working. Whatever the reason, I’ve found out how to move your mouse using the keyboard.
It started when I lost my mouse, normal computing became very difficult and web browsing was close to impossible – unless, that is, I was prepared to mash the ‘tab’ button on every page.
So, here it is, a way to move your mouse cursor without a mouse.
Please check before you attempt to do this that you have a numeric keypad, as this is the only requirement for this. A numeric keypard resembles this:
Option 1: MouseKeys
Okay, so, the first way of doing this, is by using a feature that is built in by windows, called MouseKeys. To turn on MouseKeys, go on Control Panel, click on Accesibility Options, click on the tab that says Mouse, and check the ‘Use MouseKeys‘ box. Alternatively, you could turn on MouseKeys by pressing Left ALT + Left Shift + Num Lock at the same time. Please note that this only works with the LEFT alt and shift, as if you try it with the right side, it will not work.
Here are the controls, provided that you have a numeric keypad, to run MouseKeys.
2 = Move Down 8 = Move Up 4 = Move Left 6 = Move Right 7 = Move Diagonally Top Left 9 = Move Diagonally Top Right 1 = Move Diagonally Bottom Left 3 = Move Diagonally Bottom Right 5 = Simulate Mouse Single Left Click (+) = Simulate Mouse Double Click (-) = Simulate Mouse Right Click (*) = Simulate Both Mouse Buttons Click At Once
If you’ve tried this, you may have noticed that the speed of the cursors is really slow. To speed this up, you just go into Settings, and change the speed.
Just drag the sliders along to the maximum speed and acceleration, and it should be absolutely fine.
Option 2: Mouse Emulator
Mouse Emulator works in a very similar way to mouse keys, except I find it slightly better, as it has a better diagonal moving control than MouseKeys. It’s a small and free program, only 10kb, downloadable here http://www.geocities.com/pronto4u/mouseemulator.html. It’s a simple, download and run program, so no installing needed.
Here are the controls for Mouse Emulator,
5 = Move Down 8 = Move Up 4 = Move Left 6 = Move Right 1 = Simulate Mouse Single Left Click 2 = Simulate Mouse Right Click 3 = Simulate Mouse Middle Click 7 – Mousewheel up (Scroll) 9 – Mousewheel down (Scroll) CTRL + 0 – Enable/Disable Mouse Emulator
If you’re wondering where Mouse Emulator went after you ran the program, it should be in your toolbar, looking like this:
So, there you have it, two clean and effective ways of using your computer, even if your mouse has died.
» Filed Under Cool Websites
Related Posts
- Enable Mouse Hover and Mouse Keys in Windows 7
- How to share a keyboard and mouse between two computers
- How to right click using the keyboard
- Turn on Caret Browsing in Internet Explorer
- Control speaker volume on your PC by scrolling mouse wheel
como hago para mover el crusor sin el mouse ?
Thanks a ton for the post dude….
god bless..
I uninstalled my ps/2 mouse driver during a wireless mouse install in Windows. Then I couldn’t move the cursor to restart my computer and enable the new wireless mouse to work. I was stuck! But I found your 6-26-08 instructions to enable MouseKeys (using another computer to search the Internet). Your instructions worked great and solved my troubles. Thanks! That’s a clever and useful tip.
thank you thank you thank you!!!! This really was a god sent for me. My mouse died and I had to do everything with the keyboard only! Whew!
Geocities is no longer operating. Do you have a new site for the small program you indicated? i DON’T HAVE A SEPARATE DIGITAL KEYBOARD, JUST THE NUMBERS ON MY KEYBOARD. WILL THAT WORK? i HAVE ANOTHER LAPTOP AND THE CURSOR WON’T MOVE. A diagnostic test reveals that an external mouse will work, but the keypad nor the external mouse will work to move the cursor with Windows. Do you have a suggestion as to what I can do to solve the problem?
Thanks.
Hello, great article! My mouse at home died and I need to use the computer with only the keyboard for a few days! This helps!
Thanx bro!!! I had no idea you could control the mouse via keyboard! Very cool!
Very cool! Thanks for this tip.
Wow! thanks a lot, very useful since my mouse is dead!
Thanks 4 this lovely option. It’s realy good……..
useful stuff! especially when a mouse dies! thanks!
u saved me a lot of frustration, i was ill and not able to go out and buy a new mouse when my touchpad gave way.
god bless u, my friend.
THE MOUSE EMULATOR PROGRAM IS NO LONGER THERE. ANY OTHER REPLACEMENT SITE?
Now I know how to move my Windows cursor without a mouse! That is awesome!
How do I navigate the TABS in my Internet browser?
For those of you asking where the program is, it’s here:
rhdesigns.browseto.org/mouseemulator.html
^ That was the original site. I have no idea why he even posted a geocities link to start with.
You can also google Joy2Key which will let you use a gamepad to emulate your mouse, and also keys on your keyboard (useful for keyboard only games).