# How to make trackpad "wake up" faster on laptop

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-trackpad-wake-up-faster-on-laptop/682752>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 3, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-trackpad-wake-up-faster-on-laptop/682752 "2014-03-03T14:40:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-trackpad-wake-up-faster-on-laptop/682752/1 "2014-03-03T14:40:52Z")

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On my Dell Latitude E6430 laptop running Win7, the trackpad doesn’t start responding for the first couple of seconds of use even though I’ve been typing. It’s dead when I start moving my finger on it, then suddenly starts responding. Since typical computer use often requires a great many brief uses of the pointer, and it starts working suddenly and shoots off somewhere so that I have to find it, this is pretty disruptive. Is there some way to keep it always on and ready?

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2014, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-trackpad-wake-up-faster-on-laptop/682752/2 "2014-03-04T04:25:49Z")

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It’s an anti-accidental palming feature. Check your trackpad drivers settings. It’s usually called something like PalmCheck or SmartSense or “Disable touchpad while typing” or such.

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**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2014, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-make-trackpad-wake-up-faster-on-laptop/682752/3 "2014-03-04T04:30:00Z")

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On Dell, it seems to be called [TouchCheck](http://www.askdavetaylor.com/3-blog-pics/vista-dell-touchpad-touch-tap-click.png) – bottom of the settings screen.

I recommend that you set it lower instead of turning it off altogether because the touchpad is pretty annoying without it – while you’re typing, a stray palm touch or finger brush will suddenly move your cursor and click somewhere. I find that a setting of about 1 second is usually a good balance.