laptop chooses an action when pointer touches it without clicking
Sorry if this has been dealt with too many times before, but I couldn't find a search term that would bring up a relevant previous answer.
I've been on desktop pc's for decades, but am new to laptops. I now have a Win7 laptop and also use a client's Win10 laptop. On both, if I move the pointer to any particular menu item, icon, or other selectable thing on the screen and leave it there even a second or two, the computer will SELECT that item for me. I'm not used to that and want to kill that behavior, but I can't find a way to do that.
Thanks for your help,
Tim
I've been on desktop pc's for decades, but am new to laptops. I now have a Win7 laptop and also use a client's Win10 laptop. On both, if I move the pointer to any particular menu item, icon, or other selectable thing on the screen and leave it there even a second or two, the computer will SELECT that item for me. I'm not used to that and want to kill that behavior, but I can't find a way to do that.
Thanks for your help,
Tim
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I'm sorry I haven't responded to these comments yet, but I haven't been able to get to the two laptops. I hope to be able to do so by Monday - at least for the Win7 machine. The Win10 machine will be several days later, when I'm next at that client.
Thanks for your patience.
Tim
Thanks for your patience.
Tim
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ASKER
These comments are related to my Win7 laptop.
I checked Joe's suggestion first. The "double-click to open" checkbox was already selected.
I am using the touchpad (rather than a mouse). Looking at Rindi's note, I found a "Device Settings" tab in the "Mouse Properties" window and spent awhile exploring the settings for the four "Synaptics ... " devices shown there. I learned some new things and adjusted a few settings that (if I understood them correctly) should reduce the issues I've been having.
Looking at McKnife's suggestion: I have not touched the Registry on either laptop (haven't done ANY exploring on the Win10 machine), but had previously looked at the "Ease of Access" entries on the Win7 laptop while trying to figure things out. The "Activate a window by hovering over it" is NOT checked on my Win7 laptop, but the way the Win10 laptop at my client behaves, I'd guess there's a good chance that it IS marked. I'll have to remember to check that when I'm there -- or I may just start using my Win7 laptop there instead.
So at least as far as my Win7 laptop is concerned, Rindi's solution has been the most important for me. But McKnife's and Joe's solutions were important things for me to check as well. Thank all of you for your help.
I checked Joe's suggestion first. The "double-click to open" checkbox was already selected.
I am using the touchpad (rather than a mouse). Looking at Rindi's note, I found a "Device Settings" tab in the "Mouse Properties" window and spent awhile exploring the settings for the four "Synaptics ... " devices shown there. I learned some new things and adjusted a few settings that (if I understood them correctly) should reduce the issues I've been having.
Looking at McKnife's suggestion: I have not touched the Registry on either laptop (haven't done ANY exploring on the Win10 machine), but had previously looked at the "Ease of Access" entries on the Win7 laptop while trying to figure things out. The "Activate a window by hovering over it" is NOT checked on my Win7 laptop, but the way the Win10 laptop at my client behaves, I'd guess there's a good chance that it IS marked. I'll have to remember to check that when I'm there -- or I may just start using my Win7 laptop there instead.
So at least as far as my Win7 laptop is concerned, Rindi's solution has been the most important for me. But McKnife's and Joe's solutions were important things for me to check as well. Thank all of you for your help.
ASKER
Thank you all three for your help and your patience.
-- Tim Deaton
-- Tim Deaton
You're welcome, Tim. And thanks to you for the feedback — very helpful! Regards, Joe
xmouse can only be activated using the registry or external tools - so I guess you would know... or did you "tweak" something without knowing what it does, by any chance?