Crazy Mouse Activity

Occasionally I get the tough question — the one that no one else has been able to solve. Sometimes I can; other times, I'm part of the crowd.

This week, Judy wrote with the challenge...

I just have a question that no one seems to be able to answer...Vista Premium on Toshiba Laptop, keeps minimizing and maximizing and switching sites at random. I know it has something to do with where I rest my cursor, but can anything be done to make it stop! sometimes it closes explorer altogether. I do appreciate your site and plan to purchase the antivirus program (i have norton 360 and it is a real bummer!) Thanks for listening.

I wrote back to Judy to tell her that I suspect that the problem is where she rests her hands, or her palms, on the front of the case.

I think that she's moving her palm on the built-in touchpad. The solution is two-fold. First get a notebook mouse — or try it with a larger mouse. Personally, I use a Logitech V450 Nano Mouse for Notebooks with my notebook and a Microsoft 6000 notebook mouse with my desktop at work. I like the smaller size mouse even if I'm using a desktop computer.

If that's the problem, she should be able to turn off the touchpad, either by a selection in selection in her touchpad driver software or via the Device Manager. I'm not sure about Vista, but with XP, you'd get there via this route: Start > Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager > Mice and other pointing devices

Right-click on touchpad device listing in Device Manager and select the Disable option.

Judy also indicated that she planned to purchase the Sunbelt VIPRE anntivirus + antispyware program that I recommend, so I asked her to be sure to use my link if she bought VIPRE.

Judy wrote back to say:

Thanks, makes sense, did use your link and I'll get a mouse tomorrow!
Judy

Copyright © 2009 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.