Cursor problems....very annoying behavior when writting text!

Thank you, but I am fully aware of how to use the Fn key.

After doing a Google search for "Win 7 erratic cursor" (which I should've done in the first place) I found that it is a well-known problem (even to Microsoft) that is related to the touchpad driver. The earlier post by Saurabh A is right on the money. I have installed the driver from the link he provided; hopefully that has fixed the problem. If it has not, I'll just disable the touchpad as I never use it anyway.

Saurabh A said:

Hi md2lgyk,

The erratic cursor movement may be due to missing/corrupt 'Touch pad drivers'. Did you install the 'Dell Touch pad' drivers after migrating to 'Windows 7'? Please confirm the current status in 'Device Manager'. Prior to installing the driver, 'Device Manager' registers a 'generic PS/2 device entry'. Installing the driver changes the entry, as shown below:

Attachment 254320 Attachment 254321

In either case, you may try updating the drivers using the following link:Driver Details | Dell United States
- Follow through to complete the installation

Note: 'Vostro 1000' is tested to work with 'Windows XP / Vista 32 bit'. The driver that I've shared may/may not optimally work with 'Windows 7' and may cause compatibility issues.

Once the driver is installed, you may also want to work with the 'Touch pad settings':
- Click 'Start icon' > Type 'Mouse' in 'Search Programs and Files' text-box > Tap 'Enter' (Refer to the image below)
Attachment 254322

Hope this helps. Do reply with the findings; would be glad to assist.

Thank you so much! Installing the driver you recommended seems to have solved the problem.