We have users with Dell Latitude D 520 laptops who would like to have the touch pad mouse on the laptop turned off as they use an external usb mouse and often accidently hit the touch pad while typing. Is there a way to turn this off so it does not respond when the laptop is on? We checked with Dell and they talk about turning the pointer option off in the bios, but that does not show up in the bios menus. Uninstalling the driver removes it but then it automatically finds it again after a reboot. We would like for it to be off, but not permanantly disabled in case a future user wants to use it on that laptop.
Thanks
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One possibility is to load the proper drivers and then, in the control panel choose to DISABLE tapping. The pointer can still be moved accidentally, but inadvertent "clicking" should'n happen then.
Most BIOS's have some settings that deal with how the built-in pointing device should be acting when an external mouse is hooked up, but I suppose some may not have this option.
/RID
jamietoner:
Thanks for your response and suggested solution. You may be on to the solution. We discovered that these laptops do indeed use the ALPS touchpad. Do you know if the software is preinstalled or should we need to find that somewhere. There is definitely no disable option currently although there are like 30 Alps drivers loaded.
It is preinstalled but i have the newest version avaible installed on my D810 (also uses an alps). I have found it it has been disabled from startup then the extra option in the mouse properties disappear. Go into start->run->msconfig-> startup tab and make sure Apoint has a check. If it's not listed install the latest alps software heres a link to download it
http://support.dell.com/su
Sorry for the delay in getting this closed and points awarded. jamietoner was spot on with the solution and ... for others who may encounter this, the Apoint program actually works quite well with what users tend to want. You have an option to only disable the touchpad when a mouse is present and reactivate when it isn't. This worked in our situation seamlessly.... mouse usb plugged in, it disables on the fly and detach it enables on the fly.
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by: michkoPosted on 2007-02-22 at 09:56:06ID: 18589791
Open Control Panel, open Mouse. Under Mouse Properties the Device Select options should allow you to de-select the touch pad.
If not, try the script given in this link:
http://ubuntu.wordpress.co