Can I disable my laptop's touchpad through Windows?(Fixed!)

Something is wrong with my touchpad. It works perfectly, but it often sends the pointer up or down into a corner and it won't stop. I can't control the mouse, either, when it happens. To get the pointer to stop, I've got to grab my laptop on each side and flex it back and forth. It doesn't usually stop right away, either. I've got to keep doing it until it'll finally stand still. I think the touch pad is fine, but it's not mounted perfectly centered or something. Can I just disable it in Windows and just use my mouse?

Re: Can I disable my laptop's touchpad through Windows?

Usually it's best to disable it in the BIOS if you want to do this permanently, but a simple shortcut to devmgmt.msc would allow you to quickly toggle it on and off while in Windows and without having to reboot.

Re: Can I disable my laptop's touchpad through Windows?

Thanks. So, devmgmt.msc is from dos, I'm guessing? Is it easy to find in the BIOS?

Re: Can I disable my laptop's touchpad through Windows?

The touchpad on my Dell can be disabled from the mouse icon on the control panel.

Re: Can I disable my laptop's touchpad through Windows?

A lot of touch pads have a switch or key sequence to toggle them on or off. That's easier than opening a window or editing the BIOS. Check the help screens regarding your computer and the touch pad or pointing device.

Also, a lot of touch pads act up if you have your fingers on more than one part of the pad at the same time. Mine will do the same thing as yours if my thumb is resting on another part of the pad while I scroll or even when I type and it took me awhile to realize I was doing that. Just something to examine.

Re: Can I disable my laptop's touchpad through Windows?

powernoodle said:

The touchpad on my Dell can be disabled from the mouse icon on the control panel.

Click to expand...

I've looked there several times, before, and have never found it. What shows up there, are a "PS/2 Compatible mouse" (I'm not using any PS/2 mouse, though, I'm using a wireless USB mouse,) and a "HID-compliant mouse," plugged into "Location:0". I'm wondering if the HID-compliant mouse is actually the touchpad and if uninstalling the drivers will disable it. (there's no buttons or boxes to disable the devices.)

devmgmt.msc basically showed me the same thing as the mouse icon in the control panel, which didn't help. Apparently, after a little searching, the disable pad/stick feature was in the original version of Windows that came with my Dell C610 (Windows NT, I believe), but I'm running XP Pro, and it's a little different.

Re: Can I disable my laptop's touchpad through Windows?

Well, after a gang of searching, I found my solution on some UK website called "gimbo." No, it wasn't in the Control Panel. Further more, it wasn't even the touchpad that was causing the drift. It was the pointing stick, which I never guessed. People on the gimbo site were fixing it by opening up their Dell C600's (I've got a C610--basically the same thing) and cutting the wire to the pointing stick. Some guy though, mentioned a special driver and gave a link to the download called "Synaptics Driver." With it, I was able to disable the stick and my problem is now gone.

The End.