Cursor Jumps all over screen

[alanboyer]

I noticed something similar happening in my previous laptop using Vista, but in Windows 7 it's almost unusable.

As I'm typing the cursor will change positions either on the application (to another area of same application), or will jump to another document.

At times I'll start to highlight something in Word to delete it, and as I hit "delete" the cursor switches to another part of the document, highlighting another paragraph and deleting it instead of what I was trying to delete.

At other times I see the cursor leave the document, go to one of the icons of another application at the bottom of the screen. Just as I hit "return" the cursor is now in another document and that document comes up on the screen instead of the one I was using.

At first I was losing whole documents. But then I got smart enough to realize that they had been closed, or stuck somewhere, and I eventually could find them instead of losing all of the work I had done.

I've been composing emails and suddenly the email disappears. It was sent before I finished composing it.

This happens about one every minute or so, and sometimes even more often.

I can see the hourglass pop up on the screne as I move the mouse. When it pops up either the screen zoom changes, screen size changes, or jumps off to one of the other icons as I mentioned above.

It looks to me as if the operating system is doing something else at those times, and if I'm going very fast (I type at about 100 wpm and up) that keystrokes get stuck somewhere I didn't intend for them to be. I make that assumption because when I move the mouse fast and see the hourglass pop up that's when it happens with the mouse, so I'm assuming that it happens with keystrokes as well. But that's a guess.

I also notice that if my finger drags across the mousepad on the laptop that sometimes that can cause this erratic behavior. Or if as I move the mouse instead of being in the center of the sensor pad I'm at the edge, that can create some real weird results.

Anyone else having similar problems?

Any fixes?

 

[Dwarf]

Hi Alan and welcome to Windows 7 Forums

This could be down to the sensitivity of your mousepad. As well as operating on a touch principal, some can operate capacitively if the sensitivity is high enough. To check this, try switching the mousepad off altogether and plug in an external mouse. It's very rare that I use a laptop, but on the ocassions that I have I found that the cursor moved without my intention simply because my wrist must have been moving over the mousepad.

 

[richc46]

In addition to the above advice, which I think will solve your problem; try tools (above IE screen) internet options....advanced....Make sure that, use smooth scrolling is checked. It has worked with another's problem similar to yours.

 

[alanboyer]

Thanks both Dwarf and Rich for you suggestions. I'd like to try both but can't find where to implement either.

I can't find where to set the sensitivity of the mouse. I've been into the controls--mouse and don't see a sensitivity setting.

And, Rich, I looked into the IE Tools as you suggested but don't see a setting for smooth scrolling.

Where do I find both of these?

Dwarf--I think you are right about my hand either being close or brushing over the top of the mousepad, but even so, it seems strange that it acts like I'm pushing the mouse button to activate whatever it's over as well.

For instance, this morning I was typing in a "comment" field on a blog. 5 different times just about as I was finishing the comment, it highlighted the whole entry and deleted it. I tried "pasting" it back but nothing was there. This is so frustrating. It's like taking 5 steps forward and then 10 backward. Suddenly a whole document disappears. A computer is supposed to be a tool to make things easier, but this new Windows 7 creates a real burden.

 

[richc46]

Above this screen, you see tools, click
click on internet options
click on advanced
In the browsing section, near the bottom near international.

To change the sensitivity of the mouse, go to control panel...mouse

Can it be your mouse?

 

[rz22g]

I would say it definitely has something to do with windows 7 as I upgraded a laptop and desktop to Windows 7 and neither had done what you had described until I changed to Windows 7.

I also notice that in Photoshop, using the polygonal lasso tool that if I do not complete my selection within about 30 seconds or so, the selecion completes itself.

 

[z3r010]

I had this issue with my sony laptop and it was fixed by installing new touchpad drivers (even though I use an external Bluetooth mouse)

While reseaching the solution I noticed that this is a very common problem on laptops for anybody using the default windows 7 touchpad drivers.

 

[acer231]

I am having the same problem, sometimes the cursor seems to have a mind of its own. I use a HP dv2000 and W7, with an external mouse. I turned off the mouse pad and that didn't fix the problem. I followed advice above and looked for updated mouse drivers and results came back that drivers are up to date. don't know where to go from here.

Mike

 

[z3r010]

Forget the system telling you that the drivers are up-to-date, go to the manufacturers site and try any touchpad drivers it has for your model.

Try these (you may have to run in vista compatibility mode) - http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...5-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&os=228&product=1817074

 

[BNemo]

Alan Boyer described my problem exactly. WIndows 7 64 bit - had no similar problems with Windows XP.

Anyone figured it out yet? Have tried advice given herein, with no results . . .

 

[Imperfect1]

Have you tried checking the options and preferences provided by the manufacturer of your touchpad/mouse? It sounds like you need to turn down your sensitivity level for both the mouse and touchpad. For example, I have a Synaptics touchpad/mouse, + the Synaptics company gives a ton of customization options. What touchpad/mouse do you have, and what does the manufacturer suggest?

 

[gailmm]

I went to dell.com and updated my driver for my keyboard and mouse. even though the driver update was already installed, I reinstalled the driver. It seems to be working fine now.
I've upgraded to Win7 and the driver is for Vista but compatible for Win7 - 64 bit. I'm thinking the upgrade may have affected the driver and the re-install straightened it out.

 

[fuqueue]

Same problem here (win7 x64, HP Compaq 8510w). Tried upgrading drivers to those suggested by windows, no dice. uninstalled, restarted, and reinstalled the suggested drivers from hp, no dice. Tried sensitivity settings and all that to no avail. it feels like it could be the hardware, like i was thinking maybe mine is wearing out, but judging from everyone's comments this seems to be a win7 issue. anyone have luck fixing it yet? this makes it really really hard and frustrating to get anything done

Also, it seems to get worse over time. I thought i had it fixed, but then it came back and kept getting worse.

I found out that the drivers HP gave me for win7 x64 were same as they give out for vista...i will uninstall, restart, and reinstall in compatibility mode to see if that works

 

[seavixen32]

I have a Sony Vaio laptop and use a wireless mouse with it, and experienced exactly the same problem, which I resolved by disabling the touchpad.

It suits me because I prefer a mouse to a touchpad at the best of times.

If I'm in an environment where using a mouse is impractical, I just remove the mouse USB receiver and enable the touchpad.

 

[fuqueue]

That's not really my problem. What happens is when I'm actually using the touchpad, the mouse doesn't move with my finger always. its like, while moving your finger on the touchpad, if you touch your other finger onto the other side of it, and maybe have to lift the first finger up for a second, you would see the mouse jump several inches or all the way accross the screen. This is essentially what's happening to me, only I'm not using a second finger; it just randomly gets stupid and starts jumping around erratically.

compatibility mode drivers sucked, no scrolling funtionality, so i'm using HP drivers again.

Tried cleaning it, no dice. I'm going to open it up and clean really well around the bezel around the touchpad; maybe something in there is triggering inputs around the edges of the touchpad. Will post again if that works

 

[acer231]

I finally just gave up on the touch pad and disabled it in the control panel and now use a wireless mouse. Works great no errant key strokes except the ones I cause.....

 

[whs]

I have a Sony Vaio laptop and use a wireless mouse with it, and experienced exactly the same problem, which I resolved by disabling the touchpad.

It suits me because I prefer a mouse to a touchpad at the best of times.

If I'm in an environment where using a mouse is impractical, I just remove the mouse USB receiver and enable the touchpad.

For that reason I use a mouse with a scrollball. That can be used nearly everywhere since you need no surface to slide it around.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
the effect you describe is incredibly annoying -- actually when you try and explain to people what the problem is you usually get just a blank scare.

It doesn't even happen on IDENTICAL PC's either -- if you have the symptom then you can't use pretty well anything that requires typed input.

It IS usually fixable though --- 1) ensure you have the up to date graphics driver -- for INTEL on a lot of laptops use the newer generic INTEL HD graphics driver, and 2) disable the touchpad. You can also load a generic touchpad driver if you can't disable it with the standard driver installed on your PC.


Cheers
jimbo

 

[bwv565]

Same problem but in Vista

I'm using Vista 32bit and I have the same problem, never ending. It is so annoying. It doesn't matter what app I'm in, Outlook, Firefox, IE, Word, whatever, the cursor jumps all over. I don't have the touchpad enabled - I actually don't like it or use it - and I have a wireless Logitech laser mouse (M705) with latest drivers.

I have a Dell Studio 1737 laptop.

It's so frustrating.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi all
If you can't find a specific touchpad for your model (or even if you can and it doesn't fix the fault) I've cured this fault on several different makes of laptops by using the Synaptics generic touchpad driver -- download from the synaptics site.

Then from the settings DISABLE the touchpad -- note it doesn't always disable the touchpad but it should cure the fault.

If you've never had the fault it's difficult to describe but if you get it it's totally 100% annoying as it makes any sort of continuous user input (Word, PPT, even replies to Forum Posts) totally impossible.

Generic drivers here

Drivers | Synaptics

Cheers
jimbo