Laptop feature: I want to disable the touchpad when a mouse is connected

[Al Dykes]

I want to disable the touch-pad if a USB mouse is plugged in. Does
anyone know if this is possible?

I use a real mouse on my laptop if I possibly can. One reason is that
I can''t keep my wrists away from the touch-pad and I frequently mess
up what I am writing by inadvertently moving the cursor.

I just got a laptop with a pad. Previous laptops had the eraser-head
mice and I don't mind these.

FWIW, I have a Dell Inspiron running Windows 7.

--
Al Dykes
News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising.
- Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail

 

[Richard in AZ]

There are many models of the Dell Inspiron. Which model do you have?
I have an older Inspiron 8200 and when I plug an external mouse in, the touch pad is automatically
disabled.
But you should have a manual that would help (may be on the hard drive, or online).

"Al Dykes" <adykes@panix.com> wrote in message news:hpno9t$7cj$1@panix5.panix.com...
>I want to disable the touch-pad if a USB mouse is plugged in. Does
> anyone know if this is possible?
>
> I use a real mouse on my laptop if I possibly can. One reason is that
> I can''t keep my wrists away from the touch-pad and I frequently mess
> up what I am writing by inadvertently moving the cursor.
>
> I just got a laptop with a pad. Previous laptops had the eraser-head
> mice and I don't mind these.
>
> FWIW, I have a Dell Inspiron running Windows 7.
>
> --
> Al Dykes
> News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising.
> - Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail
>

 

[Dave]

"Al Dykes" <adykes@panix.com> wrote in message
news:hpno9t$7cj$1@panix5.panix.com...
> I want to disable the touch-pad if a USB mouse is plugged in. Does
> anyone know if this is possible?
>
> I use a real mouse on my laptop if I possibly can. One reason is that
> I can''t keep my wrists away from the touch-pad and I frequently mess
> up what I am writing by inadvertently moving the cursor.
>
> I just got a laptop with a pad. Previous laptops had the eraser-head
> mice and I don't mind these.
>
> FWIW, I have a Dell Inspiron running Windows 7.
>
> --
> Al Dykes
> News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is
> advertising.
> - Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail
>

Look under Control Panel, Hardware & Sound, Mouse. There should be settings
there to disable the touch-pad.
Dave

 

[SC Tom]

"Al Dykes" <adykes@panix.com> wrote in message
news:hpno9t$7cj$1@panix5.panix.com...
> I want to disable the touch-pad if a USB mouse is plugged in. Does
> anyone know if this is possible?
>
> I use a real mouse on my laptop if I possibly can. One reason is that
> I can''t keep my wrists away from the touch-pad and I frequently mess
> up what I am writing by inadvertently moving the cursor.
>
> I just got a laptop with a pad. Previous laptops had the eraser-head
> mice and I don't mind these.
>
> FWIW, I have a Dell Inspiron running Windows 7.
>
> --
> Al Dykes
> News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is
> advertising.
> - Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail
>

I use a Bluetooth mouse with my notebook, but unfortunately, unlike
Richard's, both the mouse and the touchpad are active at the same time. What
I did was make a shortcut to the Mouse properties in Control Panel, pin it
to the Start menu, then use my Bluetooth mouse to disable the touchpad when
the mouse is in use. If I don't have the mouse, I can tab to the start menu,
then enable the touchpad. Sounds like a lot more work than it really is
--
SC Tom

"Owning a handgun doesn't make you armed
any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician."
Lt. Col. J.D. "Jeff" Cooper, USMC, Ret.

 

[Stephen Wolstenholme]

On 9 Apr 2010 131:41 -0400, adykes@panix.com (Al Dykes) wrote:

>I want to disable the touch-pad if a USB mouse is plugged in. Does
>anyone know if this is possible?

There is no easy way to disable the touch-pad. I just avoid touching
it when I'm using a mouse.

Steve

--
Neural Planner Software Ltd www.NPSL1.com

Neural network applications, help and support.

 

[FiOS-Dave]

"Al Dykes" <adykes@panix.com> wrote in message
news:hpno9t$7cj$1@panix5.panix.com...
> I want to disable the touch-pad if a USB mouse is plugged in. Does
> anyone know if this is possible?
>
> I use a real mouse on my laptop if I possibly can. One reason is that
> I can''t keep my wrists away from the touch-pad and I frequently mess
> up what I am writing by inadvertently moving the cursor.
>
> I just got a laptop with a pad. Previous laptops had the eraser-head
> mice and I don't mind these.
>
> FWIW, I have a Dell Inspiron running Windows 7.
>
> --
> Al Dykes
> News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is
> advertising.
> - Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail
>

If it is anything like my HP laptop, there is a button just above the
touchpad, which can be used to disable the touchpad.
when disabled, the indicator changes from blue to amber.
If that is not the case, you may be able to disable the touchpad
in Control Panel, Mouse, Device settings.
Dave

 

[Trev]

"Stephen Wolstenholme" <steve@tropheus.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:ddavr5d94aod2sugbdtfg92en0i04mb1h5@4ax.com...
> On 9 Apr 2010 131:41 -0400, adykes@panix.com (Al Dykes) wrote:
>
>>I want to disable the touch-pad if a USB mouse is plugged in. Does
>>anyone know if this is possible?
>
> There is no easy way to disable the touch-pad. I just avoid touching
> it when I'm using a mouse.
>
> Steve
>
> --
> Neural Planner Software Ltd www.NPSL1.com
>
> Neural network applications, help and support.

On my Tosh there is a Function key On, yes The keyboard.

 

[Alan Larsson]

Re: Laptop feature: I want to disable the touchpad when a mouse isconnected

On 4/10/2010 4:50 AM, Trev wrote:
>
> "Stephen Wolstenholme" <steve@tropheus.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:ddavr5d94aod2sugbdtfg92en0i04mb1h5@4ax.com...
>> On 9 Apr 2010 131:41 -0400, adykes@panix.com (Al Dykes) wrote:
>>
>>> I want to disable the touch-pad if a USB mouse is plugged in. Does
>>> anyone know if this is possible?
>>
>> There is no easy way to disable the touch-pad. I just avoid touching
>> it when I'm using a mouse.
>>
>> Steve
>>
>> --
>> Neural Planner Software Ltd www.NPSL1.com
>>
>> Neural network applications, help and support.
>
> On my Tosh there is a Function key On, yes The keyboard.

Dont forget to check the BIOS, on the oder DELL Inspirons at work there
is a BIOS setting to disable the touchpad when a mouse is plugged in.