How to turn off touchpad rapid movement = click?

[Napier]

I'm using a Dell Latitude laptop, and it has a touchpad mouse. Touching the mousepad rapidly in succession activates the left mouse button click. But my hand isn't steady enough to move the pointer around without activating this. Is there a way to turn it off so that only the mouse button can do a click? I couldn't find a way in settings > control panel > mouse.

[Bill H.]

You need the right mouse driver installed. You can get it at Dell's website. There are several versions of this from Dell, so I don't know which one you'll get. On mine, once you install the proper driver, you'll find a new tab in your control panel->mouse dialog called "Device Settings". In that, there is a button, "settings". Then a menu "Tapping", and you can uncheck a box that says "Enable Tapping"

Personally, I think this "tap to click" concept is one of the dumbest inventions ever. Right up there with the laugh track or carpool lanes. There's a special place in hell for the inventors of these.

[Lobsang]

Originally Posted by Bill H.

Personally, I think this "tap to click" concept is one of the dumbest inventions ever. Right up there with the laugh track or carpool lanes. There's a special place in hell for the inventors of these.

Here here! Who actually finds it usefull??

[Noelq]

Lobsang? I've read and enjoyed your posts for years, and I find your humour and outlook on life utterly fascinating. However, I find myself in the unenviable position of disagreeing with you.

I LOVE the double-tap on the touchpad to make clicks happen. Its MUCH quicker and easier than having to release the keyboard to grab a mouse, and I find that using the "mouse buttons" built-in on the dell laptop require a bit too much force to just use in a swift, fluid motion.

As always, YMMV.

[LSLGuy]

Double tap for a click would be fine.

But I find that almost every time I touch the damn pad at all, the thing interprets that as a click, not as what it really is: me putting my finger ON the pad preparatory to sliding the mouse pointer someplace. So I'm forever clicking on what I don't want to click on, and then having to keyboard to undo that, followed by putting my finger back on the touchpad, triggering a click, etc. Cold day in hell I'll be out & about without a separate physical mouse to plug into my laptop.

I'd like to kill the SOB who designed that touchpad junk. And the idea that the standard drivers include no adjustability for THE critical control interface to the machine is equally dumb. I'm glad hear from Bill H. that there are some drivers available which actually let the user control all aspects of his/her machine. How thoughtful of them.

Snarl. Directed at them, not you. Thanks, I feel MUCH better now.

[Lobsang]

Originally Posted by Noelq

Lobsang? I've read and enjoyed your posts for years, and I find your humour and outlook on life utterly fascinating. However, I find myself in the unenviable position of disagreeing with you.

I LOVE the double-tap on the touchpad to make clicks happen. Its MUCH quicker and easier than having to release the keyboard to grab a mouse, and I find that using the "mouse buttons" built-in on the dell laptop require a bit too much force to just use in a swift, fluid motion.

As always, YMMV.

Hats off to anyone who can leave the feature switched on without constantly accidentally utilising it. The feature in itself is a good idea. It's just that in my experience it doesn't work very well. I find myself clicking on things I didn't want to click on. It gets very irritating in a matter of minutes.

[Napier]

>The feature in itself is a good idea. It's just that in my experience it doesn't work very well.

Which feature? The "automatically do what the person intended" feature? Or the "automatically do whatever's under the mouse pointer at random moments" feature?

The inventor of this one doesn't need a special place in hell. Hand tremors would fix him just fine.

Thanks for the tip. I'll go to Dell and get that driver. While I'm there I'll send them a suggestion that their laptop division might like to use those drivers for their mice, so they can send me an automatic thankyou and erase my email.