# mouse function on laptop **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 25, 2007, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-function-on-laptop/389394 "2007-01-25T12:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-function-on-laptop/389394/21 "2007-01-26T00:10:08Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] Ugh, touchpads. I won’t by a laptop unless it has the little eraserhead mouse. And it has the added benefit of keeping other people off my computer. No one’ll touch cuz no one can figure out how to move the mouse around. BTW I have a thinkpad and had the same problem. To turn mine off I had to do it through a Thinkpad configuration utility. [/QUOTE] To each his own, I guess; I use touchpads a lot and I’m quite comfortable with them - even for click-dragging and drag-selecting and stuff; I have a sub-notebook thinkpad that I used for my bird box webcam - it has a tit and I hated it - always seemed to be overshooting the target. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-function-on-laptop/389394/22 "2007-01-26T00:34:04Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] To each his own, I guess; I use touchpads a lot and I’m quite comfortable with them - even for click-dragging and drag-selecting and stuff; I have a sub-notebook thinkpad that I used for my bird box webcam - it has a tit and I hated it - always seemed to be overshooting the target. [/QUOTE] I’m pretty good with it, in fact I can even do emergency photoshop work on it. The touchpad, wouldn’t even bother firing up PS if all I had was a touchpad. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-function-on-laptop/389394/23 "2007-01-26T01:47:32Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I just tried putting plastic over my touchpad and it still works - does anyone know what kind of sensor technology they use? I thought it was resistive. [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure it works by capacitive sensing, same as the iPod click wheel. [How the iPod click wheel works.](http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/ipod4.htm) ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-function-on-laptop/389394/24 "2007-01-26T01:55:09Z")
On my Dell (an Inspiron 5100), under the Control Panel \> Mouse there is a tab for ‘devise settings’. Under that tab, there is an option for the settings for each pointing devise (on mine, it’s the Synaptics touchpad). Within that dialog box there is a way to either disable it, or reduce the palm sensitivity. ---
**Author:** ![biometricks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecae2f/32.png) [@biometricks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biometricks)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-function-on-laptop/389394/25 "2007-01-26T01:58:31Z")
You should be able to find a sensitivity setting, sometime it’s called PalmCheck, in the mouse properties applet that you can adjust (it’s sort of hidden sometimes). Adjusting it a notch or two should get rid of the accidental bumping problem. I’ve found the setting on Dell, Gateway, and Toshiba notebooks. But there is a little app called the [Virtual TouchPad cover](http://tygi.cjb.net/) that you may want to try … I’ve never used it, so I don’t know if it’s buggy though. ---
**Author:** ![Aceospades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Aceospades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aceospades)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-function-on-laptop/389394/26 "2007-01-26T02:09:56Z")
when i got the laptop it had xp professional on it (and other stuff) since i had a copy of the home edition handy, i formated c and installed the home edition. i think this is the reason that when i go into control panel there doesn’t seem to be an option to either change the sensitivity or turn off the mouse. ---
**Author:** ![biometricks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecae2f/32.png) [@biometricks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biometricks)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-function-on-laptop/389394/27 "2007-01-26T02:28:17Z")
[QUOTE=Aceospades] when i got the laptop it had xp professional on it (and other stuff) since i had a copy of the home edition handy, i formated c and installed the home edition. i think this is the reason that when i go into control panel there doesn’t seem to be an option to either change the sensitivity or turn off the mouse. [/QUOTE] Yeah, that makes sense then. Try to download the correct XP touchpad driver and software from [http://support.dell.com/](http://support.dell.com/). It will probably be listed as an Input device. ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-function-on-laptop/389394/28 "2007-01-28T02:12:32Z")
[QUOTE=Aceospades] i have a dell latitude. there are two “things” on the keypad that function as a mouse. one is a small purple nob stuck between the keys G H and B. the other is a touch pad about 1 and a half inches big that is located under the space bar. i want to turn the touch pad off. when i type, sometimes my palm hits it and screws everything up. i looked in the control panel under mouse but saw nothing there that would let me turn off the touch pad. am i out of luck? is it even possible to turn off the touch pad? please help. [/QUOTE] As previously mentioned in regard to ALPS (which is most common on Dells), there’s usually an app running in the taskbar (or you could always go to the task manager - but be careful) that allows you to disable the touchpad. As something of a roadwarrior, always working from a laptop, I find that when space allows (i.e. not on a plane or not working right on my lap), I prefer to disable the touchpad and use a real-live (albeit miniature) mouse (preferably laser and preferably wireless). ---
**Author:** ![Aceospades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Aceospades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aceospades)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-function-on-laptop/389394/29 "2007-01-29T18:46:17Z")
i finally downloaded the correct driver and disabled my touchpad (yaaae!). thanks for everyones help. i’m thinking that missing drivers is what is causing my problems with using my 50" panasonic tv as a monitor for my laptop. (from this thread [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8201714#post8201714](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8201714#post8201714) ) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-function-on-laptop/389394.md?page=1)