Is there freeware to turn OFF the sensitive TOUCHPAD when a USBmouse is connected?

[Gene Wirchenko]

[snip]

No it ain't! The taskbar SHOULD be hidden unless you want to use it.

It is a matter of preference.

I switch frequently between programs. For me, it is much more
convenient to have the taskbar always displayed.

[snip]

sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Ken Blake]

[snip]

No it ain't! The taskbar SHOULD be hidden unless you want to use it.

It is a matter of preference.

Ditto! Just because one person prefers it to be hidden doesn't mean we
all should. Such "SHOULD be"s are almost always bad advice.

I switch frequently between programs. For me, it is much more
convenient to have the taskbar always displayed.

Same here.

 

[choro]

[snip]

No it ain't! The taskbar SHOULD be hidden unless you want to use it.

It is a matter of preference.

Ditto! Just because one person prefers it to be hidden doesn't mean we
all should. Such "SHOULD be"s are almost always bad advice.

I switch frequently between programs. For me, it is much more
convenient to have the taskbar always displayed.

Same here.

Sir, I have a good reason to justify why the taskbar should be hidden.
That way you have a bigger estate available to view birds!--
choro
*****

 

[Stan Brown]

I can't count the number of times the sensitive touchpad is
inadvertently activated while typing, in Windows XP & Windows 7.

Is there freeware available that will simply TURN OFF the touchpad
when a USB mouse is connected?

It should be in the drivers for your laptop.

Since you chose to keep the identity of your laptop a secret, try a
Web search for your laptop model and "disable touchpad". That's how
I did it.

 

[charlie]

I can't count the number of times the sensitive touchpad is
inadvertently activated while typing, in Windows XP & Windows 7.

Is there freeware available that will simply TURN OFF the touchpad
when a USB mouse is connected?

I guess if not, then is there a SIMPLE way to disable the TOUCHPAD
driver when the mouse is attached; and then a simple way to re-enable
that touchpad driver when the mouse is not connected?

The key to this is make and model dependent, as well as what is being
used for the mouse and touchpad driver(s)

I have an older HP 9000 series laptop (Vista) that originally had this
very problem. Dumping some of the HP "enhancements", and reverting to the
Microsoft Mouse and updated Synaptics touchpad drivers, along with
reducing the touchpad optional functions seems to have made things more
suitable.
This particular laptop has a single button above the touchpad that can
also be used to at least partially disable the touchpad.

The either or business depends on the hardware and drivers. I found that
there were ways to disable drivers and so forth, but never bothered to
automate the process. Some of the laptops had a level of bios support
that sort of emulated a mouse to windows.

 

[Art Todesco]

I can't count the number of times the sensitive touchpad is
inadvertently activated while typing, in Windows XP & Windows 7.

Is there freeware available that will simply TURN OFF the touchpad
when a USB mouse is connected?

I guess if not, then is there a SIMPLE way to disable the TOUCHPAD
driver when the mouse is attached; and then a simple way to re-enable
that touchpad driver when the mouse is not connected?

I've got 2 laptops, newer Dell (W7) and an older Gateway (XP) and both
have a setting using the keyboard, to shut off the touchpad. They both
use a proprietary control key that must be held while hitting a number
key or a function key.

 

[Danny D.]

You can meddle with the settings through "Control Panel -- Mouse".
I turn the pad clicks off.

Thanks to the help here, I found out that I was using the Microsoft
drivers, which didn't have that automatic disabling feature.

However, when I downloaded the Dell drivers for the touchpad, those
drivers DID have the feature to automagically disable the touchpad when
the USB mouse is connected.

The nice thing is that the Dell driver automatically re-enables the
touchpad when you disconnect the USB mouse.

Perfect. And free (sort of).

 

[Danny D.]

Or check your control panel mouse settings.

It wasn't in those settings but that turned out to be because I was using
the default drivers (which worked fine, otherwise).

When I installed the Dell-specific touchpad drivers, there finally was an
option to automagically enable and disable the touchpad depending on
whether the USB mouse was plugged in or not.

Perfect! And free (sort of).

 

[Danny D.]

if you _do_ find some freeware that turns off the 'pad when an external
mouse is present [and back when it isn't], please share, as clearly many
would like it [I still use the 'pad for some things even with a mouse]).

The Dell-specific touchpad driver had an option to automatically turn off
the touchpad the moment a USB mouse it plugged in.

So, my problem was that I was using whatever drivers self-installed when
I set up the operating system (Windows 7).

The way it works now is that the touchpad is disabled the moment a USB
mouse is plugged in; and then the touchpad is re-enabled the moment you
pull the USB mouse off.

Seems to be perfect - so - I never did find any freeware to perform the
task.

 

[Danny D.]

Isn't there a button alongside the edge of the touchpad to physically
enable/disable it? You don't identify the touchpad. Is it in a laptop?
If so, which one (make and model)? Is it a standalone device?

I don't see a manual disable button.

It's a Dell XPS M1730.

The darn touchpad is smack right where your hands go!

Reviews:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/Dell-XPS-M1730_Laptop_review
http://www.cnet.com/laptops/dell-xps-m1730/4505-3121_7-32687269.html

 

[Danny D.]

I disabled mine in Control Panel.

That only works if you have the option.

The default drivers which loaded with Windows 7 did NOT have that option
(as far as I could tell).

Luckily, people here directed me to the Dell drivers, which DID have that
option!

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/Product/xps-m1730

 

[Danny D.]

Some include the ability to automatically disable the touchpad when an
external mouse is attached.

That was the answer that worked!

The default Microsoft drivers did NOT have the option which allowed the
touchpad to be automatically disabled once I plugged in a USB mouse.

But, the updated Dell drivers DID have that option!
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/driverdetails?driverid=F8RCC

Interestingly, it's listed as "optional" in the Dell download pages:
Dell Touchpad / Pointing Stick, v.9.1.18.6, A00
Combined 32-Bit/64-bit Touchpad Driver for XP/2K and Vista
Release Date: 8/2/2007
Importance: Optional
Version: 9.1.18.6,A00

 

[Danny D.]

It should be in the drivers for your laptop.

You were right!
It was in the list of OPTIONAL drivers for the Dell MPX 1730 laptop!
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/340183-31-dell-m1730-win7-turn-touchpad

Who would have known that the standard Microsoft drivers didn't have this
critical feature.

In fact, I can't imagine how ANYONE who is trained at typing can actually
type on this type of laptop without disabling the touchpad!

 

[Danny D.]

The key to this is make and model dependent, as well as what is being
used for the mouse and touchpad driver(s)

This was true.

The "default" drivers did not have the feature.

However, the supposedly optional drivers from Dell did!
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19223905.aspx

The thing that gets me is that this feature is in no way "optional".
It's mandatory.

You simply can't type without it (at least by two-handed typing).

 

[Danny D.]

They both use a proprietary control key that must be held while hitting
a number key or a function key.

I don't know if that control sequence exists for my Dell XPS M1730
laptop, but, luckily, I don't need the control sequence because it's all
automatic now that I loaded the (supposedly optional) driver for the
touchpad from Dell.

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/Product/xps-m1730

IMHO, it's a MANDATORY download, since the keyboard is essentially
useless with the touchpad in the way, moving the cursor all over the
place in the middle of your sentences.

 

[Char Jackson]

No it ain't! The taskbar SHOULD be hidden unless you want to use it.

Alternatively, it SHOULDN'T be hidden if you don't want it hidden. I think
most of us probably don't want it hidden.

What is the point of having all that space if you cannot use it or if it
hides a good proportion of whatever it is you have up and running.

If the taskbar takes up an objectionable amount of your screen real estate,
you might consider a bigger monitor, or perhaps you've expanded your task
bar to multiple rows. Shrink it back down to just one or two rows and it
won't use much screen space at all.

Besides in Windows 8 you have the option of displaying the taskbar on
the LHS of the screen

As others have said, that's been there since '95.

 

[Danny D.]

If the taskbar takes up an objectionable amount of your screen real
estate,
you might consider a bigger monitor, or perhaps you've expanded your
task bar to multiple rows. Shrink it back down to just one or two rows
and it won't use much screen space at all.

What I do, on Windows, is move the taskbar to the sides.

This is to protect the vertical (up:down) real estate, which is 50 times
more precious than side-to-side real estate on most HD screens.

On Linux, unfortunately, it can't be done due to Gnome bugs that make
putting the menus on the sides impossible to use once you open 7 or more
windows.

 

[VanguardLH]

I don't see a manual disable button.

It's a Dell XPS M1730.

The darn touchpad is smack right where your hands go!

Reviews:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/Dell-XPS-M1730_Laptop_review
http://www.cnet.com/laptops/dell-xps-m1730/4505-3121_7-32687269.html

I went to the Dell support site but their manuals really suck to
describe how to use their product. With the identification of the make
and model, I found an online picture of the keyboard at:

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/mobile/2008/dell-xps-m1730-x9000/dell-m1730-keyboard.jpg

I don't see any disable button near the touchpad. None of the Fn key
combos look to disable the touch pad. So Dell has not provided an
easy-of-use feature for their touchpad.

I can't tell from the above pic if those are 4 programmable buttons at
the top right of the keyboard.

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/mobile/2008/dell-xps-m1730-x9000/dell-m1730-open-on.jpg
http://images.hardwarezone.com/upload/files/2010/04/4eae82cd6f.jpg

From those pics, it doesn't look like any of the media buttons on the
front edge will disable the touchpad.

So it looks like Dell didn't bother providing an easy disable/enable
button for the touchpad. Guess they didn't realize that uses of this
product might want to use external keyboards and mice.

So I'd focus on using Microsoft's devcon utility to disable hardware.
This is their command-line version of Device Manager. You could create
shortcuts (on the desktop, in the Start menu, or in a toolbar in the
Windows taskbar) to run devcon with parameters to disable or enable a
hardware device. No reboot should be needed to disable or enable a HID
(human interface device).

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272/fi

Use the regular graphical Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) to select the
device (the touchpad, in this case), right-click on it, select
Properties, and under the Details tab find the Hardware ID of the device
(select "Hardware ID" from the drop-down list). You use that string in
the 'disable' and 'enable' parameters to devcon.exe. You might be able
to get away with shortening the hardware ID to remove the REV portion.
For example, the hardware ID might look like:

USB\VID_06E6&PID_C200&REV_0044&MI_04

but maybe the following would work:

USB\VID_06E6&PID_C200

That way, if you update the driver, your shortcut to run devcon won't be
tied to a revision of the device. You can use the 'find' parameter to
make sure that devcon can locate the device by the hardware ID you
specify.

 

[VanguardLH]

I went to the Dell support site but their manuals really suck to
describe how to use their product. With the identification of the make
and model, I found an online picture of the keyboard at:

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/mobile/2008/dell-xps-m1730-x9000/dell-m1730-keyboard.jpg

I don't see any disable button near the touchpad. None of the Fn key
combos look to disable the touch pad. So Dell has not provided an
easy-of-use feature for their touchpad.

I can't tell from the above pic if those are 4 programmable buttons at
the top right of the keyboard.

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/mobile/2008/dell-xps-m1730-x9000/dell-m1730-open-on.jpg
http://images.hardwarezone.com/upload/files/2010/04/4eae82cd6f.jpg

From those pics, it doesn't look like any of the media buttons on the
front edge will disable the touchpad.

So it looks like Dell didn't bother providing an easy disable/enable
button for the touchpad. Guess they didn't realize that uses of this
product might want to use external keyboards and mice.

So I'd focus on using Microsoft's devcon utility to disable hardware.
This is their command-line version of Device Manager. You could create
shortcuts (on the desktop, in the Start menu, or in a toolbar in the
Windows taskbar) to run devcon with parameters to disable or enable a
hardware device. No reboot should be needed to disable or enable a HID
(human interface device).

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272/fi

Use the regular graphical Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) to select the
device (the touchpad, in this case), right-click on it, select
Properties, and under the Details tab find the Hardware ID of the device
(select "Hardware ID" from the drop-down list). You use that string in
the 'disable' and 'enable' parameters to devcon.exe. You might be able
to get away with shortening the hardware ID to remove the REV portion.
For example, the hardware ID might look like:

USB\VID_06E6&PID_C200&REV_0044&MI_04

but maybe the following would work:

USB\VID_06E6&PID_C200

That way, if you update the driver, your shortcut to run devcon won't be
tied to a revision of the device. You can use the 'find' parameter to
make sure that devcon can locate the device by the hardware ID you
specify.

Oh, I see in your reply in another subthread that using the Dell drivers
gave you a disable/enable function. So go with that. Since the disable
is automatic when a USB HID device is attached then it's easier to use
and you don't have to remember to click on the shortcut(s) to devcon to
disable and later reenable the touchpad.

 

[Ken Blake]

What I do, on Windows, is move the taskbar to the sides.

This is to protect the vertical (up:down) real estate, which is 50 times
more precious than side-to-side real estate on most HD screens.

Same here, and for the same reason.