typing question

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I hate this computer. I don't know if it is Win 7 or the computer itself, but suddenly the curser will move to a different line in the textbox and either turn a bunch of stuff blue then delete it or just start typing in a different place. I have to edit things 6 times or more because the stupid curser jumps in the textbox. It doesn't do it on the page, just textboxes, on all sites. What is wrong? Does anyone know?
This is a HP Compaq laptop. My old desktop HP pavillion never did this. Could it be a setting or something, and I am hitting shortcut keys without knowing it?

[randallhilton]

Check a couple of things:
Turn the laptop upside down and swat it on the bottom to knock loose dust, crumbs and stuff that might be lodged under your shift key and other places.

If it has a touch pad, be sure it's clean.

Speaking of touch pads: If you do have a touch pad you might not be familiar with the "slider" controls they're putting on the new ones. Look on the right edge and along the bottom of the touch pad and you might see a line or a faint grid pattern. Keep your finger off those lines/patterns when doing normal editing because they can cause you to highlight blocks of text.

The slider area of the touch pad can also be handy for scrolling web pages etc.

[backlash]

My Dell laptop with Win7 did the same thing.
I figured out it was the touch pad.
I do not use the touch pad.
I bought a cleaning cloth and leave that folded on top of the pad.
No more problems.

[Anon001]

All you need to do is disable the touchpad so that you can't tap it to click, but you can still move the cursor with it and use the key to click. Also you are probably brushing the touchpad with your hand as you type. Type like a "typist" and don't rest your wrists on the computer... just the fingers. That will solve your problem.

Paul

[keydl]

Disabling 'mouse gestures' will probably solve most, adding a wrist pad will help.

You may be bumping a 'hot key' short cut, wrist pad will usually solve that but it may need to be changed.

[Bones]

I have an external mouse(wireless) for my laptop. The few time I loaned it to a woman at work when we were on travel I had to disable the touch-pad mouse because of some of the things you described. Get an external mouse and you can have you laptop disable your touch-pad when your external mouse is connected. Otherwise get used to not resting your wrist on the area where your touch-pad is located.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I have a mouse separate from the pad. How do I disable the pad?

[Anon001]

On Windows, go into your Control Panel > Mouse. In Linux, go to System > Prefereneces > Mouse.

The touchpad setting are usually with the Mouse settings. You don't have to actually disable the entire touchpad. Disable the side and bottom scrolling and disable the "Touch to click". That will still allow you to use the touchpad, but you will have to use the scroll bar on the side of the window to scroll and you will have to use the left button to click instead of tapping on the touchpad to click.

I also have a wireless mouse, but I don't use it if I'm not at the desk. If I'm in a chair or in the bed, I use the touchpad.

Paul

[MissouriFree]

I use a Dell Latitude D430 laptop and the touch pad mouse movement goes haywire sometime on me also. I go to the small blue mouse control button between the G and the H and jerk it around a bit and all is fixed.

[NotSoFast]

What is happening is your fingers or thumb are stroking the pad on the laptop sending the cursor wherever. I have a Dell laptop and bought a Logitech wireless optical mouse. The program came with the computer and is a small utility that locks out the laptop pad when I install the USB plugin to the laptop. When I first got the laptop I didn't know about this and it drove me crazy as well until I started digging into the controls and found the right check box to check.

I would suggest you go to Control Panel and double click on Mouse, and explore your settings. You may be surprised like I was.

God bless you,
Chuck

[NotSoFast]

My Dell laptop with Win7 did the same thing.
I figured out it was the touch pad.
I do not use the touch pad.
I bought a cleaning cloth and leave that folded on top of the pad.
No more problems.Check under Control Panel | Mouse for settings to turn off your pad if you use an external mouse. See my reply below.

[MissouriFree]

What is happening is your fingers or thumb are stroking the pad on the laptop sending the cursor wherever. I have a Dell laptop and bought a Logitech wireless optical mouse. The program came with the computer and is a small utility that locks out the laptop pad when I install the USB plugin to the laptop. When I first got the laptop I didn't know about this and it drove me crazy as well until I started digging into the controls and found the right check box to check.

I would suggest you go to Control Panel and double click on Mouse, and explore your settings. You may be surprised like I was.

God bless you,
Chuck


I thought that at first also but testing it with a single finger on the mouse pad- the mouse gets jerky and jumps". Still blue mouse button always fixes it. For sure I am not dragging my fingers.. I have no trouble using the pad., It works great ( other than noted trouble, which is more of a jumping than anything). I am pefectly happy with the mouse pad. They just take getting use to .. I have speed set pretty high and love it especially as I use it laying in bed on my ample anatomical correct padded computer stand ( belly)

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I use it laying in bed on my ample anatomical correct padded computer stand ( belly)

And who says you aren't politally correct? LOL.

I ended up calling the kid to disable the mouse pad because I just can't find the place to do it. He is coming down Wednesday, so I only have a few more days to deal with it. Thank you everyone.

[backlash]

I use a USB trackball but sometimes I use the touch pad so I didn't turn it off.
The microfiber cleaning cloth works and it's handy for cleaning the screen.