Hello Everyone,
I hope someone here has an answer because I am becoming quite frustrated. The touchpad in my laptop is so sensitive that it is nearly impossible to type anything. The cursor/mouse arrow will jump from where it is on the screen with the lightest of pressure on the laptop case. I am sure that there are many of you that have this problem. The laptop does have a button at the top near the screen to disable the touchpad, which is what I am using now. It works, but is very inconvenient to use because there are times while typing that you need to use the touchpad to move to a different text box or whatever. The constant pushing the button on and off is frustrating by itself, even more so when I forget to do it.
I have looked for software solutions online and found several free software programs that disable the trouchpad while typing. Each one has worked great for the first few days and then mysteriously stops working. The programs are shareware and not trialware, so that isn’t the problem. It is almost as if my touchpad becomes “immune” to the software after a few days. It is really a shame since when these programs work they are fantastic. Am I losing my mind or is this really happening? Anyone know of a permanent solution to my typing woes?
A lot of trackpad drivers – accessible through the trackpad or mouse control panel – have the option to disable trackpad input when typing. If you don’t see that option, check the manufacturer’s site for an updated driver; chances are good that there’s a new driver out there.
If I had to guess, the programs work when you first download and install them, then stop working after you restart your computer. Try restarting the program the next time it stops working, and try putting it in the Start menu’s Startup folder, so that the program always starts when you log in to Windows.
And, if none of that works, try uninstalling and reinstalling the program?
Do you want to disable the touchpad entirely? If so, check the BIOS. If not, I recommend installing the driver for the touchpad from the computer manufacturer’s website. On my Dell notebook system, for instance, this driver lets you disable either the touchpad or the pointing stick, or to automatically disable both when an external mouse is connected.
It is hidden in Windows, assuming you use some version of Windows.
control panel > mouse > finger sensing pad tab > click the “configure” button > click the “on-pad functions” > click “on-pad click” > there is a check box for “enable on-pad click”. Uncheck this box and Bob’s your Uncle.
I only know because after bitching about this for years, someone showed me 2 weeks ago in Taiwan.
This may vary by hardware and/or windows version. On mine I have to right click the touchpad icon in the taskbar to find the Tap to Click option. I don’t think I can access it at all via Control Panel. But yes, I agree that disabling that is probably obbn’s best solution. Special software shold not be necessary.
Echoing China Guys suggestion, disable the tap-as-click function. I had the same problem on my laptop as I would start typing in one location and then I’d be typing somewhere else…a real pain in a large document.
I had the tap-as-click enabled and the cursor would jump as I was typing. When I disabled that function and only the buttons were treated as clicks, the pointer might move but the cursor stays put.
I think there’s some misunderstandings going on here.
While Windows lets you disable the touchpad altogether, the OP wanted some more nuanced – something that disables the touchpad only while he’s typing.
That’s not something Windows natively supports. Some drivers will add that to the Windows control panel, but that’s entirely dependent on the manufacturer and particular driver version. If the OP’s touchpad isn’t one of the lucky ones with this sort of driver support, he’ll need third-party software like TouchFreeze or similar.
Are you using an alternative pointing device, such as a mouse or (like me) a trackball? If so it should be simple to completely disable the trackpad. Personally, I hate using the trackpad and always use a trackball with my laptop. Trackpads are notoriously sucky anyway, so you might as well get an external device.
I am going to try it in a little bit. I didn’t mean to disappear on the thread, three kids, three dogs and a wife and time sometimes flies away! I will report back later. However I am not looking to totally disable the track pad. I don’t use a mouse with the laptop, although if this continues I might. Thanks everyone for your advice!
“Syndaemon” sounds like a Synaptics driver, so a similar command might work in Windows. I’d be surprised if there were command line options for the mouse driver that weren’t accessible through the GUI – which is installed with the driver.
Well, what I think he really wants is a way to stop the touchpad doing annoying thinks if he accidentally brushes it with his sleeve or something while he is typing. As nearly all the bad effects of accidentally touching the touchpad while typing are caused by the Tap To Click function, I think China Guy’s suggestion to turn this off was an excellent one, a much better idea than trying to turn off the pad altogether while typing. With Tap To Click disabled, although you might still move the mouse cursor accidentally whilst typing, that is unlikely to be a problem for anyone, and the rest of your touchpad functions will still be there ready to use as soon as you need them. You will just need to get used to clicking with the pad’s button, rather than just by tapping on the pad, but I do not think many people will find that a problem.
The only problem is that, as I and others pointed out, exactly where you go to find the menu choice to disable Tap to Click will vary according to your specific hardware. However, it should not be too hard to find.
