Touch pad trauma

[shirlthegirl43]

Max has s/w to 'convince' the pc that the user has full admin rights...

[bobleponge]

Cheers one and all. Well pretty much all of the above has been tried and tested except buying a mouse. Its ramadan here and thus nothing is open during the day, and there is nobody else in the building that uses a mouse for me to steal.
I have found the settings changey thingy, and have put everything to as slow/heavy etc as possible and yet still, should I happen to drop an errant thumb within so much as a grid square of my mouse pad thingy, the cursor still moves elsewhere, rendering me apoplectic with fury.
I shall sign off for now as getting a mite frustrated with it all.
On typing this little message, the cursor only moved 9 times.

[RedThorn]

My dell is the opposite! If my hands are very dry, it does not work! just resorted to an optical usb mouse! at least mine does not register and keep jumping when typing!

[smallblueplanet]

Dell often have their own proprietary software loaded (look in the programs menu for a Dell folder) to customise their laptop settings. If the mouse is moving when you get near the touchpad it sounds a bit odd, maybe something has gone a bit dodgy?

These are good, presuming there's a USB socket on the laptop?

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/778564...at:Peripherals - oops just read the drivers list, not listed to work on Win98, sorry.

[enrich100]

For your amusment

A language instructor was explaining to her class that French nouns, unlike their English counterparts, are grammatically designated as masculine or feminine. Things like 'chalk' or 'pencil,' she described, would have a gender association although in English these words were neutral.

Puzzled, one student raised his hand and asked, "What gender is a computer?"

The teacher wasn't certain which it was, and so divided the class into two groups and asked them to decide if a computer should be masculine or feminine. One group was comprised of the women in the class, and the other, of men. Both groups were asked to give four reasons for their recommendation.

The group of women concluded that computers should be referred to in the masculine gender because:

In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.
They have a lot of data but are still clue less.
They are supposed to help you solve your problems, but half the time they ARE the problem.
As soon as you commit to one, you realize that, if you had waited a little longer, you could have had a better model.
The men, on the other hand, decided that computers should definitely be referred to in the feminine gender because:

No one but their creator understands their internal logic.
The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.
Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval.
As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

[BumbleB]

My laptop is the same, it jumps the text about while typing if I slightly brush the mouse sensor. But! there is a tiny button just above the pad that disables the mouse while typing and I just have to click it back when I need to move the curser etc. Do they not all have this button?

[enrich100]

My laptop is the same, it jumps the text about while typing if I slightly brush the mouse sensor. But! there is a tiny button just above the pad that disables the mouse while typing and I just have to click it back when I need to move the curser etc. Do they not all have this button?

each manufacturer have different specifications so no they don't

[TEB]

Cheers one and all. Well pretty much all of the above has been tried and tested except buying a mouse. Its ramadan here and thus nothing is open during the day, and there is nobody else in the building that uses a mouse for me to steal.
I have found the settings changey thingy, and have put everything to as slow/heavy etc as possible and yet still, should I happen to drop an errant thumb within so much as a grid square of my mouse pad thingy, the cursor still moves elsewhere, rendering me apoplectic with fury.
I shall sign off for now as getting a mite frustrated with it all.
On typing this little message, the cursor only moved 9 times.

Unfortunately the Dell UK site aren't listing any drivers for Win 98 on your model of laptop, they do have a driver available (under input device) for your model and Windows 2000, it "may work" (please dont come looking for me if it goes belly up) heres the link Drivers & Downloads

PS If you put the Dell Service tag number in here it may offer you some drivers Dell System Information / Dell Warranty Extensions & Upgrades / Dell Warranty Status

[bobleponge]

Teb
I really appreciate that, but was wondering, could you tell me what a driver is for?
I thought it was like an enginey type thingy for, say, a new mouse?
But I only have the standard ancient laptop?
Confused.
I cant even say I wish I'd listened in school, we didnt have them when I was in school

[TEB]

Hi Bob,
a driver is what software uses to talk to a hardware device, depending on how your laptop was built then there could be a new or updated driver available that allows greater funcionality of the hardware device. It could be that your laptop is using say a microsoft driver to control the touchpad whereas Dell may have written a driver that allowed you greater control over the touchpad. From what I was reading of others that had the same issue then Dell had a driver called "Alps GlidePoint/StickPointer" that seemed to cure (or improve) the issue with touchpad sensisitivity. One other option if you have the time is talk to a Dell support staff via their UK site (sort of IM) but Windows 98 is no longer a supported operating system so not sure how much help they would be willing to give.

[bobleponge]

Suddenly, unlike my rosehip wine, all is clear.
Many thanks again, at least now I understand. I share this lappy with a back to back, and he is a proper 2 fingered typist, like wot I should be really, which would then negate this problem.
I fear this little beauty may end up falling out of my plane next time I fly anywhere in this country.
Again, many many thanks for all help and suggestions, especially the hammer, that really would be the one for me.

[tulip]

hi,

if no joy elsewhere, the guys on the techie forum here are very helpful.

MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

good luck!

[enrich100]

one thing worth a try mouse pads can get over sensitive if there is a build up of dirt on the touchpad even if it looks clean, if you have a wet wipe or something similar it may help to give it a good wipe, a build up of skin particles and other nasties build up on the pad after a while, its worth a try anyway ive fixed a couple of laptops this way how ever I usually ended up replacing the mouse pad, what ever you do don't put it in the dishwasher,

only other options would be to uninstall then re install drivers however as this is a works laptop I would advise you wait for your IT Department to talk you through this as its possible to cause more damage than you fix,

[Glutton4...]

So, to sum up - it's not the poota that's the problem - it's SquarePants' thumbs - amputate 'em Boble!

[annacruachan]

Another website which may be of help to you Bob is justanswer.com - don't know how to create a link out of that! You'll have to Google it.