Do you gain any extra controls for this smart pad? Perhaps under Control Panel > Mouse? Usually if your touchpad sports extra software, it will be controllable through there.
Also, one suggestion I found on Microsoft's support site was to check the box to "Turn off touchpad when USB mouse is installed." I wonder if it would disable the touchpad, or just the smart pad features?
Yet another suggestion I have is to download & install Ccleaner. Under Tools > Startup, you can control what runs at startup. Some things, if disabled or deleted there, will not start at all, unless you specifically go and start their program of course.
Good luck. =)