# Why does what I type on my laptop sometimes get all jumbled? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-what-i-type-on-my-laptop-sometimes-get-all-jumbled/166716 "2003-04-05T19:28:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twit)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-what-i-type-on-my-laptop-sometimes-get-all-jumbled/166716/1 "2003-04-05T19:28:22Z")
Okay, I recently bought a laptop and I’ve noticed a very annoying occurrence. Sometimes, when I am on instant messenger, what I type gets jumbled. Instead of this: I went to the store to buy some food It winds up something like this: I went to thbuy some food e store. Anyone know why this happens? Could it be some side effect of running WinMX? BTW, this never happened on my desktop but it’s already happened three times as I type this post. Thanks for any and all help. Erik 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Vampire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Space\_Vampire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Space_Vampire)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-what-i-type-on-my-laptop-sometimes-get-all-jumbled/166716/2 "2003-04-05T19:34:34Z")
Happens to me all the time too. I assume it has to do with my accidentally clicking the “mouse” button while I type, but I can’t be positive. If you notice, it’s not that the text just gets jumbled, (assuming I understand right and we have the same problem,) it’s that the cursor jumps back, leaving you typing in the middle of an old sentence. I managed to keep it from happening while writing this post just by picking my hands up a little bit to keep them from brushing up against the buttons, it seemed to help. ---
**Author:** ![twit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twit)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-what-i-type-on-my-laptop-sometimes-get-all-jumbled/166716/3 "2003-04-05T19:37:10Z")
Space, it probably is just that simple of a problem. I guess that the touchpad as well as these buttons are a bit sensitive. (Glad I wasn’t alone on this!) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-what-i-type-on-my-laptop-sometimes-get-all-jumbled/166716/4 "2003-04-05T19:37:34Z")
Try decreasing the sensitivity of your track pad. It’s in the mouse applet in control panel, usually. ---
**Author:** ![twit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twit)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-what-i-type-on-my-laptop-sometimes-get-all-jumbled/166716/5 "2003-04-05T19:55:44Z")
I found an option called “Tap off while typing” and activated it. This may help the situation as well. Thanks, Juanita! ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-what-i-type-on-my-laptop-sometimes-get-all-jumbled/166716/6 "2003-04-05T19:57:33Z")
Unless you are using hunt-and-peck, there may also be a problem with the keyboard size. The few notepads I’ve used actually needed a bit firmer strike to get the character onto the screen and with a narrower board, my cramped hands were not always striking as hard as I needed them to. ---
**Author:** ![This\_just\_in\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@This\_just\_in\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/This_just_in_1)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-what-i-type-on-my-laptop-sometimes-get-all-jumbled/166716/7 "2003-04-05T20:13:24Z")
That happens to me whenever I do any backspacing or rearranging on a post or in a fill-in field. I’m guessing that the browser’s typing memory is just not up to par, not nearly sophisticated enough to back out anything correctly, but the results are so random they just don’t think it’s their fault. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-what-i-type-on-my-laptop-sometimes-get-all-jumbled/166716/8 "2003-04-05T20:20:49Z")
Have you spilled anything like syrup, cheese dip or jelly on your keyboard? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-what-i-type-on-my-laptop-sometimes-get-all-jumbled/166716/9 "2003-04-05T22:21:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by twit \* > \*\*I found an option called “Tap off while typing” and activated it. This may help the situation as well. Thanks, Juanita! \*\* You’ve nailed it yourself. What happens if that setting is on, is that even a light tap on the pad while you are typing causes the cursor to blink and become active at the point where the mouse cursor was. ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-what-i-type-on-my-laptop-sometimes-get-all-jumbled/166716/10 "2003-04-06T00:36:14Z")
It could be you have a mild case of lexdysia.