XP - Point and Jump

[gardener7]

Can someone help me with a troublesome problem I
experience with my new HP Pavilion laptop that uses
Windows XP Home Edition as the operating system?

Problem - when I point at something for an instant
(whether offline or online) the computer immediately
jumps to it. For example, when I boot up and click the
start button and barely point to something on my way to
something else, the computer jumps right to what I
pointed at. This happens on the web too. I would much
prefer to have to click on what I point to with the
mouse/touchpad than for it to immediately jump to
whatever I may mistakenly point to. This is driving me
nuts. Is there a fix?

[Cindy Winegarden]

gardener7 > inscribed in
...
> Problem - when I point at something for an instant
> (whether offline or online) the computer immediately
> jumps to it.

Hi Gardener,

Go to My Computer | Tools | Folder Options | General tab. What's your
setting for "Click items as follows?"

--
Cindy Winegarden MCSD, Microsoft Visual FoxPro MVP
http://cindywinegarden.adsl.duke.edu
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro http://foxcentral.net

[Sharon F]

On Wed, 16 Apr 2003 11:46:25 -0700, "gardener7" >
wrote:

>Can someone help me with a troublesome problem I
>experience with my new HP Pavilion laptop that uses
>Windows XP Home Edition as the operating system?
>
>Problem - when I point at something for an instant
>(whether offline or online) the computer immediately
>jumps to it. For example, when I boot up and click the
>start button and barely point to something on my way to
>something else, the computer jumps right to what I
>pointed at. This happens on the web too. I would much
>prefer to have to click on what I point to with the
>mouse/touchpad than for it to immediately jump to
>whatever I may mistakenly point to. This is driving me
>nuts. Is there a fix?

In addition to checking your clicking options, take a look at the
settings for the touchpad. Some of the software for these input devices
have options such as "Snap To" - cursor jumps to most logical spot on
the screen that *it* thinks you want to click on. The feature can be
called different things in different software and you may have a few
similar settings besides.

Sharon F
MS MVP [Shell/User]

[gardener7]

Cindy - the setting = "double click to open an item
(single click to select)". Several people have pointed
to this as the first thing they thought of, but that
selection has always been the one that has been
selected. I've also re-installed the Synaptics touchpad
driver for my laptop from my hard drive (per suggestion
from an HP support rep) but that hasn't helped. The HP
rep suggested that, if the re-install didn't work, I
should use the recovery CD and nuke my hard drive and
start again. Facile suggestion but way radical and I
won't do that. Help????


>-----Original Message-----
>gardener7 > inscribed in
...
>> Problem - when I point at something for an instant
>> (whether offline or online) the computer immediately
>> jumps to it.
>
>Hi Gardener,
>
>Go to My Computer | Tools | Folder Options | General
tab. What's your
>setting for "Click items as follows?"
>
>--
>Cindy Winegarden MCSD, Microsoft Visual FoxPro MVP

http://cindywinegarden.adsl.duke.edu
>http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro http://foxcentral.net
>
>
>.
>

[gardener7]

Sharon - your description of the "snap to" setting sounds
exactly like what my problem is and I hope it may be
the "bingo". I have checked my clicking settings and it
would appear to be the one I want ("double click to open
an item - single click to select"). I have also re-
installed my touchpad driver software per a suggestion
from an HP support rep but that didn't help. He
suggested that, if that didn't help, I should use my
recovery CD and nuke my hard drive and reinstall
everything. I DON'T THINK SO. But, what you have
suggested re the "snap to" behavior is clearly what is
happening and it must point the way to the solution.
Now, because I am a dunce, could you PLEASE (!) take me
through the steps whereby I might be able to
determine "the settings for the touchpad" so that I can
find the "snap to" options that are selected? In
addition, you stated that I "may have a few similar
settings besides". If so, could you take me through the
steps to determine whether there may be other "similar
settings"? BLESS YOU! Bruce

>-----Original Message-----
>On Wed, 16 Apr 2003 11:46:25 -0700, "gardener7"
>
>wrote:
>
>>Can someone help me with a troublesome problem I
>>experience with my new HP Pavilion laptop that uses
>>Windows XP Home Edition as the operating system?
>>
>>Problem - when I point at something for an instant
>>(whether offline or online) the computer immediately
>>jumps to it. For example, when I boot up and click the
>>start button and barely point to something on my way to
>>something else, the computer jumps right to what I
>>pointed at. This happens on the web too. I would much
>>prefer to have to click on what I point to with the
>>mouse/touchpad than for it to immediately jump to
>>whatever I may mistakenly point to. This is driving me
>>nuts. Is there a fix?
>
>In addition to checking your clicking options, take a
look at the
>settings for the touchpad. Some of the software for
these input devices
>have options such as "Snap To" - cursor jumps to most
logical spot on
>the screen that *it* thinks you want to click on. The
feature can be
>called different things in different software and you
may have a few
>similar settings besides.
>
>Sharon F
>MS MVP [Shell/User]
>.
>

[gardener7]

Cindy - please see Sharon F's response to me and my
response to her. She likely has the solution. Can you
help on this "snap to" touchpad settings issue? Thanks

>-----Original Message-----
>gardener7 > inscribed in
...
>> Problem - when I point at something for an instant
>> (whether offline or online) the computer immediately
>> jumps to it.
>
>Hi Gardener,
>
>Go to My Computer | Tools | Folder Options | General
tab. What's your
>setting for "Click items as follows?"
>
>--
>Cindy Winegarden MCSD, Microsoft Visual FoxPro MVP

http://cindywinegarden.adsl.duke.edu
>http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro http://foxcentral.net
>
>
>.
>

[Cindy Winegarden]

gardener7 > inscribed in
...
> Sharon - your description of the "snap to" setting sounds
> exactly like what my problem is

Start | Control Panel | Printers and Other Hhardware |
Mouse. The Mouse dialog should have tabs for the Touchpad also. If you have
special touchpad software installed you'll have a whole lot more tabs than
just what come "in the box" with WinXP. The "Snap to" setting is on my
Pointers tab. Go over each tab of the Mouse/Touchpad dialog and look at
everything you can change - then change them one by one to see exactly what
they do.

I've also been thinking about your initial description - "when I point at
something for an instant
(whether offline or online) the computer immediately jumps to it. For
example, when I boot up and click the
start button and barely point to something on my way to something else, the
computer jumps right to what I
pointed at." It almost sounds like your menu setting is too fast. Can you
describe in more detail exactly where you are when this happens? For
example, does it happen on the Start menu and also in a browser window? If
in the browser, does it happen with the menu or with buttons on web pages.

--
Cindy Winegarden MCSD, Microsoft Visual FoxPro MVP
http://cindywinegarden.adsl.duke.edu
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro http://foxcentral.net

[Sharon F]

On Sun, 20 Apr 2003 11:16:41 -0700, "gardener7" >
wrote:

>Sharon - your description of the "snap to" setting sounds
>exactly like what my problem is and I hope it may be
>the "bingo". I have checked my clicking settings and it
>would appear to be the one I want ("double click to open
>an item - single click to select"). I have also re-
>installed my touchpad driver software per a suggestion
>from an HP support rep but that didn't help. He
>suggested that, if that didn't help, I should use my
>recovery CD and nuke my hard drive and reinstall
>everything. I DON'T THINK SO. But, what you have
>suggested re the "snap to" behavior is clearly what is
>happening and it must point the way to the solution.
>Now, because I am a dunce, could you PLEASE (!) take me
>through the steps whereby I might be able to
>determine "the settings for the touchpad" so that I can
>find the "snap to" options that are selected? In
>addition, you stated that I "may have a few similar
>settings besides". If so, could you take me through the
>steps to determine whether there may be other "similar
>settings"? BLESS YOU! Bruce

Bruce,
You are in good hands with Cindy. She's already described the location
of snapto for you in the standard mouse control panel.

The only addition I have to offer is to switch Control Panel over to
"classic view" to see if there is an additional icon for the Synaptics
software. Although it sometimes blends its features into the regular
Mouse control panel, I have also seen it with its own separate icon.

My daughter is adept with a feather-touch setting on the pad, but I'm
not. I am always accidentally clicking when all I want to do is move the
mouse cursor. I can usually fix this by lowering the sensitivity. Maybe
a little adjusting of the other Synaptics features would help you out a
bit too?

Sharon F
MS MVP [Shell/User]