where's my cursor going?!

Linea Recta wrote:

Recently I have problems with the cursor, apparently jumping around the
place.
This happens not only when typing a message in Windows Mail, but also e.g.
in TextPad.

When typing I don't look constantly at the application window and afterwards
ik seems my sentence continues somwhere in te middle of my story, in stead
of at the end. This is very treacherous...

No details on what hardware you using so responses will be vague. If a
laptop or other mobile device or a keyboard with a touchpad, either
change its sensitivity (your palm is getting too close to an
over-sensitized pad) or disable the touchpad when using the keyboard
(there might be a button near the pad or in its bezel or you have to use
a FN+Fkey combo).

Does the mouse cursor move across the screen when you are not touching
the mouse? If so, could be some lint or hair inside that falsely
triggers the sensor into believing the mouse has moved. Doesn't take
much air flow to flutter an itty bitty super skinny lint thread or hair.
Blowing on the mouse might not work. The link or hair could be stuck
inside and won't move when blown. You have to open the mouse to use a
tweezers to pick away the lint and hair. If it is a wireless mouse,
replace the batteries and retest. Same if using a wireless keyboard.

Is this a programmable keyboard? If so, have you visited its key setup
to make sure a standard key (no modifier other than maybe Shift) wasn't
assigned a macro or function?

On Fri, 9 Jun 2017 14:56:22 +0200, "Linea Recta"
wrote:

"Shadow" schreef in bericht
.. .
On Fri, 9 Jun 2017 14:13:41 +0200, "Linea Recta"
wrote:

Recently I have problems with the cursor, apparently jumping around the
place.
This happens not only when typing a message in Windows Mail, but also e.g.
in TextPad.

When typing I don't look constantly at the application window and
afterwards
ik seems my sentence continues somwhere in te middle of my story, in stead
of at the end. This is very treacherous...

Either a faulty keyboard/mouse or a corrupt driver.
Try uninstalling the mouse driver (WinKey+PauseBreak ---
hardware --- devices) and rebooting for starters.
If that does not work, try plugging in another keyboard.
[]'s

--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012




Perhaps I should have mentioned this happens on a laptop.


With a laptop, the problem is often that you accidentally drag a
finger along the touchpad while typing.

In message , Shadow
writes:
On Fri, 09 Jun 2017 09:48:47 -0700, Gene Wirchenko
wrote:

On Fri, 9 Jun 2017 17:27:46 +0200, "Linea Recta"
wrote:
[]
On 09/06/2017 13:56:22, Linea Recta wrote:
[]
On Fri, 9 Jun 2017 14:13:41 +0200, "Linea Recta"
wrote:

Recently I have problems with the cursor, apparently jumping around the
[]
When typing I don't look constantly at the application window and
afterwards
ik seems my sentence continues somwhere in te middle of my story, in
[]
Perhaps I should have mentioned this happens on a laptop.
[]
I think you might be right. I now disabled the touch pad.
BTW with "the moving cursor" I meant the flashing I (whatever it is called)
in the text program. Not the one directly moving with the mouse actions.

Clicking will make one move to where the other is.

The flashing I is called a cursor. Sometimes, the mouse pointer
will appear that way, sometimes as an arrow.

(Some people call it "text insertion point", or more commonly "I-beam".)

Catching the touchpad as you type is possible. There is also:

Do you have very dry hands? I do, and sometimes, I have caused a
click on my laptop's touchpad when my finger is not touching the
touchpad (but is about 1/16" away).

I have my laptop configured to disable the touchpad when a
regular mouse is connected. What I wish I could do, but it does not
have a setting for this, is disable the touchpad's clicking. (I would
rather use only the buttons for this.)

I suppose it depends on your touchpad. I've always been able
to disable clicking through control panel.
[]'s
It's probably under the extra bit: assuming it's a Synaptics one (or at
least using their driver), and I've yet to see one that isn't:
Control Panel, Hardware, Mouse. There are the usual tabs: Buttons,
Pointers, Pointer Options, Wheel, and Hardware; there is also a tab
"Device Settings". If there isn't, it's _probably_ not got a touchpad
driver at all, and the touchpad is just defaulting to being a mouse; I
_think_, if that's the case, tap-clicking _is_ on. (If you haven't got
the extra touchpad controls, it's worth getting them - there are lots of
goodies! Ideally get from your machine's manufacturer's website, though
I've never found the default one from Synaptics not to work.)

In Device Settings, there's another button "Settings...". That opens
another window.

The contents of that window vary. On my W7 machine, I have "Synaptics
TouchPad V6.2", and there's just a box "Tapping". (I was worried as I
was able to turn it off but not back on again [I _like_ the facility] -
until I realised that once I'd turned it off, tapping to turn it on
again of course wouldn't work, I had to use the button!) On my XP
machine, which has "Synaptics Touchpad V7.2", Tapping has a main setting
Enable Tapping, but also subsections for Tap and Drag, and Tap Zones.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"Bother," said Pooh, as he tasted the bacon in his sandwich.

On 6/9/2017 7:29 AM, Ed Cryer wrote:
Linea Recta wrote:
Recently I have problems with the cursor, apparently jumping around
the place.
This happens not only when typing a message in Windows Mail, but also
e.g. in TextPad.

When typing I don't look constantly at the application window and
afterwards ik seems my sentence continues somwhere in te middle of my
story, in stead of at the end. This is very treacherous...




The usual culprit in things like this is a mouse. Try a different one,
or unplug the one you have and see if the cursor still bounces around.

Ed

its easier for lazy people that will not pick up their hands to use the
on screen keyboard.
why type? Use the mouse.

On 6/9/2017 10:35 AM, Linea Recta scribbled:
"Gene Wirchenko" schreef in bericht
...
On Fri, 9 Jun 2017 17:27:46 +0200, "Linea Recta"
wrote:

"mick" schreef in bericht
...
On 09/06/2017 13:56:22, Linea Recta wrote:
"Shadow" schreef in bericht
...
On Fri, 9 Jun 2017 14:13:41 +0200, "Linea Recta"
wrote:

Recently I have problems with the cursor, apparently jumping
around the
place.
This happens not only when typing a message in Windows Mail, but
also
e.g.
in TextPad.

When typing I don't look constantly at the application window and
afterwards
ik seems my sentence continues somwhere in te middle of my story, in
stead
of at the end. This is very treacherous...

Either a faulty keyboard/mouse or a corrupt driver.

On a desktop mouse, I have had optical mice reset on me. The
mouse pointer moves to the middle of the screen in my experience. When
a ball mouse has trouble, it just does not move. I prefer this
failure mode.

Try uninstalling the mouse driver (WinKey+PauseBreak ---
hardware --- devices) and rebooting for starters.
If that does not work, try plugging in another keyboard.

Perhaps I should have mentioned this happens on a laptop.

.....and I bet it is one of those newer ones with the touchpad
offset more
to the left. It is a common problem.
You are catching the touchpad as you type.
Put a thick piece of card over it temporarily to test the outcome.

Adjust the touchpad sensitivity
https://www.howtogeek.com/223404/how...-enhancements/


I think you might be right. I now disabled the touch pad.
BTW with "the moving cursor" I meant the flashing I (whatever it is
called)
in the text program. Not the one directly moving with the mouse actions.

The flashing I is called a cursor. Sometimes, the mouse pointer
will appear that way, sometimes as an arrow.

Catching the touchpad as you type is possible. There is also:

Do you have very dry hands? I do, and sometimes, I have caused a
click on my laptop's touchpad when my finger is not touching the
touchpad (but is about 1/16" away).

I have my laptop configured to disable the touchpad when a
regular mouse is connected. What I wish I could do, but it does not
have a setting for this, is disable the touchpad's clicking. (I would
rather use only the buttons for this.)

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko




Have a look at Configuration - Mouse - tab "Buttons" - list "other
pointing devices". Choose your touch pad. Go to tab "device settings"
and you find a button to disable/enable the chosen touch pad device.

I use optical wired mice for all my computers. I didn't know that mice
with balls where even still sold... Anyway, I would'nt want to use one
of those :-(

On Fri, 9 Jun 2017 19:35:41 +0200, "Linea Recta"
wrote:

[snip]

Have a look at Configuration - Mouse - tab "Buttons" - list "other pointing
devices". Choose your touch pad. Go to tab "device settings" and you find a
button to disable/enable the chosen touch pad device.

Oh, I can disable the touchpad if there is another mouse, and I
have that set. I meant that I want to disable the tapping on the
touchpad causing a click with the touchpad otherwise working.

I use optical wired mice for all my computers. I didn't know that mice with
balls where even still sold... Anyway, I would'nt want to use one of those
:-(

I do not know that they are still sold either. Mine is rather
old. If I could buy another, I would.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

In message , Gene Wirchenko
writes:
On Fri, 9 Jun 2017 19:35:41 +0200, "Linea Recta"
wrote:

[snip]

Have a look at Configuration - Mouse - tab "Buttons" - list "other pointing
devices". Choose your touch pad. Go to tab "device settings" and you find a
button to disable/enable the chosen touch pad device.

Oh, I can disable the touchpad if there is another mouse, and I
have that set. I meant that I want to disable the tapping on the
touchpad causing a click with the touchpad otherwise working.
[]
I think this is the second time I've written this in two days -
certainly less than a week:

Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, Mouse.

If you only have five tabs - Buttons, Pointers, Pointer Options, Wheel,
and Hardware - you haven't got a touchpad driver, so are using the
default mouse driver (where tapping defaults to on). Get the touchpad
driver ideally from your manufacturer, failing that the default one from
Symantec (which I've never known not to work). Once that's installed
properly, you should have a sixth tab under Mouse: Device Settings.

Within that tab, there's a button, Settings... . This opens another
window, with many options; while there are variations depending on
version, Tapping - which does have a master setting, and may have
subsettings as well - but this is the one you want.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Quantum particles: the dreams that stuff is made of - David Moser

On Tue, 13 Jun 2017 19:53:10 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Gene Wirchenko
writes:
On Fri, 9 Jun 2017 19:35:41 +0200, "Linea Recta"
wrote:

[snip]

Have a look at Configuration - Mouse - tab "Buttons" - list "other pointing
devices". Choose your touch pad. Go to tab "device settings" and you find a
button to disable/enable the chosen touch pad device.

Oh, I can disable the touchpad if there is another mouse, and I
have that set. I meant that I want to disable the tapping on the
touchpad causing a click with the touchpad otherwise working.
[]
I think this is the second time I've written this in two days -
certainly less than a week:

Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, Mouse.

If you only have five tabs - Buttons, Pointers, Pointer Options, Wheel,
and Hardware - you haven't got a touchpad driver, so are using the
default mouse driver (where tapping defaults to on). Get the touchpad
driver ideally from your manufacturer, failing that the default one from
Symantec (which I've never known not to work). Once that's installed
properly, you should have a sixth tab under Mouse: Device Settings.

Apparently, I do have a touchpad driver. It is identified as
"Elan Smart-Pad" version "ETDWare PS/2-X64 10.6 10.8_WHQL".

It has five tabs Buttons, Pointers, Pointer Options, Hardware,
and ELAN. The last tab has "Disable when external USB pointing device
plug in" [their broken English]. There is nothing else to covering
tapping.

I suppose I will have to look up that Symantec driver.

Within that tab, there's a button, Settings... . This opens another
window, with many options; while there are variations depending on
version, Tapping - which does have a master setting, and may have
subsettings as well - but this is the one you want.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

In message , Gene Wirchenko
writes:
On Tue, 13 Jun 2017 19:53:10 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Gene Wirchenko
writes:
On Fri, 9 Jun 2017 19:35:41 +0200, "Linea Recta"
wrote:

[snip]

Have a look at Configuration - Mouse - tab "Buttons" - list "other pointing
devices". Choose your touch pad. Go to tab "device settings" and you find a
button to disable/enable the chosen touch pad device.

Oh, I can disable the touchpad if there is another mouse, and I
have that set. I meant that I want to disable the tapping on the
touchpad causing a click with the touchpad otherwise working.
[]
I think this is the second time I've written this in two days -
certainly less than a week:

Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, Mouse.

If you only have five tabs - Buttons, Pointers, Pointer Options, Wheel,
and Hardware - you haven't got a touchpad driver, so are using the
default mouse driver (where tapping defaults to on). Get the touchpad
driver ideally from your manufacturer, failing that the default one from
Symantec (which I've never known not to work). Once that's installed
properly, you should have a sixth tab under Mouse: Device Settings.

Apparently, I do have a touchpad driver. It is identified as
"Elan Smart-Pad" version "ETDWare PS/2-X64 10.6 10.8_WHQL".

It has five tabs Buttons, Pointers, Pointer Options, Hardware,
and ELAN. The last tab has "Disable when external USB pointing device
plug in" [their broken English]. There is nothing else to covering
tapping.

I suppose I will have to look up that Symantec driver.
[]
Ah. First time I've ever encountered another touchpad manufacturer. I
hope the Symantec driver _does_ work for you - make
backups/images/restore points/whatever first! (If it doesn't, might be
worth removing the Elan driver and trying again.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Know what happens when you don't pay your exorcist?
You get repossessed!
- Randle Brashear, 2015-8-9

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Gene Wirchenko
writes:
On Tue, 13 Jun 2017 19:53:10 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Gene Wirchenko
writes:
On Fri, 9 Jun 2017 19:35:41 +0200, "Linea Recta"
wrote:

[snip]

Have a look at Configuration - Mouse - tab "Buttons" - list "other
pointing
devices". Choose your touch pad. Go to tab "device settings" and
you find a
button to disable/enable the chosen touch pad device.

Oh, I can disable the touchpad if there is another mouse, and I
have that set. I meant that I want to disable the tapping on the
touchpad causing a click with the touchpad otherwise working.
[]
I think this is the second time I've written this in two days -
certainly less than a week:

Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, Mouse.

If you only have five tabs - Buttons, Pointers, Pointer Options, Wheel,
and Hardware - you haven't got a touchpad driver, so are using the
default mouse driver (where tapping defaults to on). Get the touchpad
driver ideally from your manufacturer, failing that the default one from
Symantec (which I've never known not to work). Once that's installed
properly, you should have a sixth tab under Mouse: Device Settings.

Apparently, I do have a touchpad driver. It is identified as
"Elan Smart-Pad" version "ETDWare PS/2-X64 10.6 10.8_WHQL".

It has five tabs Buttons, Pointers, Pointer Options, Hardware,
and ELAN. The last tab has "Disable when external USB pointing device
plug in" [their broken English]. There is nothing else to covering
tapping.

I suppose I will have to look up that Symantec driver.
[]
Ah. First time I've ever encountered another touchpad manufacturer. I
hope the Symantec driver _does_ work for you - make
backups/images/restore points/whatever first! (If it doesn't, might be
worth removing the Elan driver and trying again.)

Synaptic != Symantec (buyer and crusher of programs, such as the PowerQuest acquisition or Ghost)

Touchpads start out as HID devices when first powered up.

The various brands of devices can use Filter Drivers
to implement virtual controls. The filter driver
analyzes coordinates in x:y space, and the time
sequence, to extract gestures or virtual button
clicks or taps.

It was never clear to me, how these filter drivers
"bind" to a particular device. There was a driver pushed
out in Windows Update once, which disabled things like
keyboards, because the filter driver was applying itself
to every HID it could find. So while on some drivers, you
can see in the INF it's making an effort to sort them
out, not all these filter drivers are written with
equal skill. And the INF can admit to searching for
a number of different "busses". For example, a laptop SuperI/O
with two PS/2 ports, could have keyboard on one port, and
Touchpad on the other, and the filter driver just grabs
the second PS/2. I don't think PS/2 has quite as strong
a Plug and Play identification system as say USB would.
On USB, you have VID/PID and Class, which gives better
opportunity for selecting something to bind to.

You should be able to look at the INF file, and
decide whether the driver writer had some clues or not.
Or whether the driver you haven't installed yet,
looks to be a little too greedy.

If you're working on a system where the driver was
installed for you, there might not be much to go by.
The INF folder contains the INF files of installed
drivers. The filenames are converted to "OEM23.INF"
format, to prevent naming collisions, but this
also hampers user attempts to find the touchpad
filter driver. You can try doing a content search
of all the OEMxx.INF files, looking for Synaptic
or touchpad or Elan or the like, to narrow down which
OEMxx.INF file, corresponds to the current operational
filter driver for the touchpad.

Paul

In message , Paul
writes:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Gene
Wirchenko writes:
On Tue, 13 Jun 2017 19:53:10 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Gene Wirchenko
writes:
On Fri, 9 Jun 2017 19:35:41 +0200, "Linea Recta"
wrote:

[snip]

Have a look at Configuration - Mouse - tab "Buttons" - list
"other pointing
devices". Choose your touch pad. Go to tab "device settings" and
you find a
button to disable/enable the chosen touch pad device.

Oh, I can disable the touchpad if there is another mouse, and I
have that set. I meant that I want to disable the tapping on the
touchpad causing a click with the touchpad otherwise working.
[]
I think this is the second time I've written this in two days -
certainly less than a week:

Except I got a name wrong this time (-:!

Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, Mouse.

If you only have five tabs - Buttons, Pointers, Pointer Options, Wheel,
and Hardware - you haven't got a touchpad driver, so are using the
default mouse driver (where tapping defaults to on). Get the touchpad
driver ideally from your manufacturer, failing that the default one from
Symantec (which I've never known not to work). Once that's installed
properly, you should have a sixth tab under Mouse: Device Settings.

Apparently, I do have a touchpad driver. It is identified as
"Elan Smart-Pad" version "ETDWare PS/2-X64 10.6 10.8_WHQL".

It has five tabs Buttons, Pointers, Pointer Options, Hardware,
and ELAN. The last tab has "Disable when external USB pointing device
plug in" [their broken English]. There is nothing else to covering
tapping.

I suppose I will have to look up that Symantec driver.
[]
Ah. First time I've ever encountered another touchpad manufacturer. I
hope the Symantec driver _does_ work for you - make
backups/images/restore points/whatever first! (If it doesn't, might be
worth removing the Elan driver and trying again.)

Synaptic != Symantec (buyer and crusher of programs, such as the
PowerQuest acquisition or Ghost)

OOPS! Yes, I meant Synaptic.
[]
You should be able to look at the INF file, and
decide whether the driver writer had some clues or not.
Or whether the driver you haven't installed yet,
looks to be a little too greedy.
[]
IM (limited) E, the default driver from the SYNAPTIC (!) website is
well-behaved.

It seems to be on http://www.synaptics.com/resources - and is 118.1 MB
now! That's edition 17.0.19, apparently. The one I have,
"11.1.3.2 28Aug08", was only 6,386 KB when I downloaded it 2014-12-5!
Ah, seems I may have got that from
http://www.samsung-driver.com/downlo...60-f-7489.html
(http://bit.ly/2sByMGr for short), which may be specific to my machine
(which happens to be XP). Hang on, let me look at my 7 machine ... Hm,
although that shows as "Synaptics TouchPad V6.2" (lower number than the
XP machine which shows V7.2 in the same place), it also appears to be
"Synaptics Pointing Device - v17.0.19 17Oct13", which matches what's on
the Synaptics website. I can't find - hang on, yes I can - 120,887 KB,
downloaded 2014-10-9, so looks like I did.

Seems like a big download just to get a tapping tickbox, but I think
it'll work! (You _could_ try the one from the Samsung site above, which
says it's only 11.82 MB; says it's for Vista, but - assuming it's the
one I've got, and the version number matches - it's working for me under
XP, and might for you under 7.)

Looking at the 118MB download, which is a .zip file: there are (under a
WinWDF folder) x64 and x86 folders, so I guess that accounts for at
least half the size.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

If you believe in telekinesis, raise my right hand

On Mon, 12 Jun 2017 16:45:09 -0700, Gene Wirchenko
wrote:

On Fri, 9 Jun 2017 19:35:41 +0200, "Linea Recta"
wrote:

I didn't know that mice with balls where even still sold... Anyway,
I would'nt want to use one of those
:-(

I do not know that they are still sold either. Mine is rather
old. If I could buy another, I would.

What would you do with it? They make awful computer mice, so I assume it
would be a conversation piece?

--

Char Jackson