Question for laptop users

klmno

Active Member
Is it normal that if my thumb happens to touch the area used for scrolling or clicking while I'm typing on the keyboard area, my cursor all of a sudden moves back and ends up in a previously typed sentence. I don't know if this is acceptable and typical or not.
 
M

Mamaof5

Guest
Yes this is typical behavior. It's sensitive to touch. My husband has the same issue with the laptop - I call it clumsy thumbs.

You can turn off the touch pad and use a USB mouse (can get one for 10 bucks or less).
 

klmno

Active Member
I have my mouse attached already because I thought it would be too much for me to get used to at once without it- how do I turn off the pad?
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
There's a button on top of the keyboard that looks like a hand pointing at a square. According to Miss KT, all you have to do is push that.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Many laptops do not have that button. We have 3 that don't have it. To turn it off just go into the control pad and it should be listed under devices. From there it should be easy to disable it.

Some systems have a button with no way to know what it is. Try that first.

Otherwise you can get a wrist support and cut it in half so half is on either side of the touchpad. Use these to keep your wrist elevated and your thumbs off of the touchpad. I put stick on velcro on one laptop to hold 2 rice bags in place. When my wrists hurt I would heat them in the microwave for about 30 seconds. It made a world of difference and kept me from accidentally touching the touchpad.
 

Josie

Active Member
There is a way to change the settings on the touchpad to make it less sensitive. I am not sure any more how to do it in Windows, since I use a Mac and a Linux machine now. It is probably with or near the mouse settings.

I just looked and this Linux machine has a setting that disables the touchpad when you are typing. Maybe there is something similar in Windows. I was able to fix this problem in Windows before, so I am pretty sure it can be done. husband has never been able to fix it to his satisfaction, though, and has the touchpad turned off.
 

klmno

Active Member
I have some keys with secondary functions marked in blue and I've tried several but haven't found the right one yet.

Another odd thing- I think the guy told me this could read and burn both cd's and dvds, but I tried to put a cd in today and it wouldn't fit on the circular thing in the middle. Don't cds and dvd's have the same sized hole?

It isn't helping a bit that my eyesight is getting horrible and I'm having trouble reading some of the stuff written in blue or with symbols.
 

mstang67chic

Going Green
Some laptops also have a button above or near the touch pad that you can push to turn the touch pad on or off. It really depends on the model. My step-mom's has a button that you push in combination with the function button and it will bring up a little box giving you various options on the touch screen. Can you take a picture of your keyboard and post it? Maybe we can help that way.
 

klmno

Active Member
I can do that tomorrow- it's a gateway. I'm really sorry about being a computer illiterate PITA-

Any idea about the CD issue? It is a lower priority though- as Janet said before, I can find other ways to transfer info.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
CDs, DVDs, etc., are all the same size. All modern laptops are able to play CDs and most able to copy both music and movie disks.

Have you looked into "jump" or "thumb" drives for storing data? These are tiny devices that plug into a USB port. You plug them in and the system automatically recognizes them as a removeable disc drive.

You can get ones that hold as much or more than a CD/RW (writeable disk) for well under 20 dollars.
 

klmno

Active Member
Yep, and I'll get one but it was more convenient to get my resume off the cd I had sitting here- until I remembered that I could get it from an old email I'd sent out with the resume attached so that's what I did. Since the fed government needs a lot of documentation sent that was never on a computer file (degree, license, discharge paper, etc), I had to go scan those in as pdfs so I went ahead and saved my resume as a pdf and emailed it to myself so I have another way to access it now, too.

When I recharge my camera batteries again, I'll take a photo of this keyboard. Does that mean I need to create another photobucket to post it here or is there a simpler way to copy it to a post?

That's odd about the cd not fitting though. I think I should run this back to the place I bought it and let them look at that. They sold it as working so they should make it work.
 
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