Stupid computer question . . .

tyr_shadowblade

tyr_shadowblade

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Jan 3, 2006
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I freely admit that I'm a borderline idiot who is completely computer illiterate, but I've been having a problem lately and even though I'm sure there must be a very simple solution I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

This is what's happening . . . I'll be type type typing away, when all of a sudden my words start appearing in the wrong place, like in the middle of the page instead of at the end of the paragraph where they belong. I think they're appearing where the cursor was last left.

Sometimes sections of text disappear from the page as if they were cut and deleted, or windows close unintentionally.

This ONLY happens when I'm using a laptop, and it's happened on both a Dell and a Toshiba -- has NEVER occurred with a standard keyboard & mouse as with a typical office computer. Only happens with laptops that have the funny "mouselike" touchpad.

My guess is I'm brushing against the touchpad accidentally and somehow messing up my work. If someone who knows what I might be doing wrong could advise me it'd be appreciated. :o
 
Unless it only happens when you're typing in certain programs, I'd say it's a PEBKAC issue.

If the mouse pointer moves and the cursor moves to the pointer's new location, that's probably an over-sensitive touchpad being grazed/tapped. If the mouse pointer doesn't move, just the cursor to the pointer's location, then it could be explained by tapping the touchpad or just pressing the mouse buttons. The disappearing text can happen if you're grazing the touchpad and the computer interprets that as click-&-drag-to-select-text, and the next letter you type would replace all the selected text. Same with window closing (throw-pointer-to-corner-and-click).

Test by disabling the touchpad & trackpoint and do a bunch of typing like you normally would. If the jumping stops, then yeah, you've got big clumsy hands. And you know what they say about guys with big hands. That's right, we buy big gloves.

Try decreasing the sensitivity of the touchpad (or jamming lint under the mouse buttons:)). Or, you know, keep your hands at the 10 and 2 position and change your typing habits.


I had a similar problem with the bleeping touchpads on the shiny new laptops I was setting up for a telecommuting project last year. Thankfully they weren't mine so I didn't have to suffer for long.
 
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By the way, you will most likely need an external mouse to disable the trackpad, unless your computer also uses a trackpoint (the nipple between the G, H, B keys).
 
tyr_shadowblade said:
Thanks. Purchasing a mouse today.
Click to expand...

If the going to the store is too much work, you could always use the numpad to control the mouse (Control Panel > Accessibility Options). A little unwieldy, but works when my regular mouse isn't working and the spare is waaay across the room.
 
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