A touchpad is a small surface on laptops and some desktop keyboards that controls the mouse cursor. It can be disabled through device settings or the control panel. Disabling may be necessary for video editing, gaming, or personal preference.
A touchpad is a small sensitized surface built into a laptop on which a finger tap will direct the movement of the mouse cursor. Some desktop keyboards also have a built-in touchpad. A tap on the pad acts like a click, and a double-tap acts like a double-click. Vertical scrolling is accomplished by sliding a finger along the right edge of the pad, and horizontal scrolling using the bottom edge. Most pads can also be disabled using a setting located in the device’s proprietary software.
In some cases you will see a mouse settings shortcut in the lower right side of your desktop toolbar, where icons of active programs running in the background are displayed. In Windows® operating systems this is known as the system tray. Macintosh® and Linux® users have the equivalent. Clicking the mouse icon will bring up the interface needed to disable the touchpad, although you may have to navigate menus or tabs to find the setting.
If your taskbar doesn’t contain a mouse or touchpad icon, go to Control Panel. The Control Panel location varies depending on your operating system. In Windows® XP, click the Start button, then highlight Settings to display a side menu with Control Panel listed. If you can’t find Control Panel, use your system’s search function to look for a folder with the same name. Once inside the Control Panel, scroll down to the mouse icon and click on it.
Many touchpads use Synaptics® software and drivers, although there are several versions of this software. Try looking for a tab or menu tree header called Device Settings to find the control to disable the device. If your software doesn’t have a Device Settings tab or the control to disable the pad isn’t on that tab, try the Help menu. Macintosh and Linux systems have their own versions of the Control Panel which will also take you to the touchpad settings by navigating the mouse options.
Within the software there may be an option to use both an external mouse and the touchpad. In other cases, selecting one of these options deselects the other, or the control to disable the pad may be independent of the external mouse settings.
Some laptops have both a touchpad and a pointing stick, a small red bump in the center of the keyboard that looks like an eraser. It may not be possible to disable both devices at the same time, but the pointing stick shouldn’t interfere with the operation of an external mouse.
There are many reasons to disable a touchpad. Video editing and gaming are two examples of activities best served by an external mouse. However, you may want to disable one of them due to poor performance during routine computer use. Maybe the pad is behaving erratically, it’s not sensitive enough, it’s too sensitive, or it’s just not set up the way you like it. All of these problems can be resolved by making sure that the correct drivers are installed and that the configuration settings are changed to your liking. After you adjust the software, you may decide to keep it enabled, saving you the hassle of using an external device.
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