Need Help With Annoying Computer Glitch(Vanity)

[hindsfeetnhighplaces]

Fellow Freepers, I know vanities are frowned upon but I am in desperate need of your help. I am a very busy stay-at-home, home schooling Mom, and pastors wife who needs help with an extremely annoying computer glitch. I have a Toshiba Satellite Laptop running Windows XP with serv. pack 2.

In the middle of typing all of a sudden my curser will jump randomly up the screen taking with it whatever I was typing at the moment. It inserts whatever I typed into the middle of another word or even a blank line. This happens no matter what program I use to type in, Works, word, my e-mail programs, or posting in F.R.

Please help, I am really tired of having to hit "undo" multiple times and trying to regain my train of thought in order to continue where I was so rudely interupted by this "glitch". Thanks in advance to those of you who will take my plea for help seriously.

God bless you all.-- hindsfeet

[martin_fierro]

See if your mouse driver has the ability to turn down its sensitivity -- it may be that you're inadvertently brushing your finger by it and it picks up on your body heat.

Sometimes the accidental pressing of certain key combinations will also cause your cursor to go all over the place.

[aft_lizard]

disable touchpad, purchase external mouse.

[MikefromOhio]

does the laptop have a mousepad below the middle of the typing area?

[hindsfeetnhighplaces]

Thank you, I will try that right now.

[FinallyBackInNH]

If you`re not already, you might want to try an external keyboard and mouse. Just about every laptop I`ve ever used that had a touch pad or some kind of "internal" mouse did flaky things every once in a while when I rested my hands on the bottom of the keyboard while typing. Some of them just don`t seem to like that extra weight around the pointer area.

[Cagey]

Your touchpad has settings that can be adjusted and most likely it is set to a too sensitive setting and your slightest touch may cause the cursor to jump.

There is a way to adjust the settings on the touchpad and there may be an icon for it in the tray at the bottom of your screen.

[hindsfeetnhighplaces]

yes it does, I really don't use it as I prefer using my external mouse.

[Lokibob]

I'll bet you are using an optical mouse.

If so, turn it over on its little back and clean the light and the sensor(I use a qtip and air).

I'll sometimes get a stray hair (dog fur) in front of the sensor, and the same thing happens.

[hindsfeetnhighplaces]

I have one, I use it more than the touchpad. Never could get used to the thing.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

I have the same basic computer. Same OS. Same problem.

1. Turn off your touch pad mouse while typing.

2. Use a traditional mouse, turn off your touch pad mouse.

[hindsfeetnhighplaces]

hmmmmm....yes your right, it is an optical mouse. I never would have thought of that.Thanks.

[MikefromOhio]

I used to have his problem with our laptops we had in Iraq. We had to turn the sensitivity way down or off...

what is happening is what when you are typing, your palms are hitting the pad.

[hindsfeetnhighplaces]

Done, thanks so much, all of you. :) You all have saved my sanity.

[Phsstpok]

it could be something as simple as adjusting the sensitivity on your pointing device. Does your Toshiba have a 'trackpoint' or touchpad pointing device (or both)? You literally might be bumping the touchpad without realizing it and moving the mouse.

We've also experienced problems with the 'trackpoint' stick in the middle of the keyboards on the BRAND X laptops we use (I'll leave brand names out of my posts, for now). To test that you can try reloading the mouse driver, or download a new one. It might need to be updated to deal with issues from the latest service pack or patch.

When we have this problem on BRAND X systems and reloading the driver doesn't solve the problem we often have to replace the motherboard, wrist rest and keyboard. Not simple, or cheap.

A third alternative is to use an external mouse. That has worked for some of my users (I have 35,000).

[Young Werther]

I don't like laptop keyboards or touch pads. For less than $50 you can buy a cordless keyboard and mouse.

[JoJo Gunn]

Every one of us is a computer user, so don't apologize about a vanity concerning computer help. Anyone who would complain is an abject moron.

[MotleyGirl70]

If it's an optical, you may need new batteries.

If so, you'll find you go through more batteries in the mouse than the keyboard. I prefer my optical setup and wouldn't go back to a regular keyboard and mouse.

[hindsfeetnhighplaces]

YES!! I was successful. I had to reinstall the Touchpad program and device driver as I apparently uninstalled or never installed it in the first place. My touchpad is now turned off. Sometime in the near future I plan to purchase a wireless keyboard as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I would give you all a great big hug if I could but I can't so this will have to suffice: (((((((((((my heroes)))))))))))))

[hindsfeetnhighplaces]

It is a USB optical mouse. So, thankfully I don't need batteries for it. Otherwize I would have to steal batteries out of my kids toys or hubbies remote and that would get me in trouble. LOL...A lot of trouble.