what causes "jumping cursor"??

[augusta]

My cursor jumps backward and replaces or deletes previously typed text. Just now, when I typed the "t" in text in my first sentence, the cursor jumped back to the "s" in deletes. The problem usually goes away when I peck with my index finger like a novice. Occasionally that silly beach ball with those 3 vertical dots down the middle stops everything and I have to click it to resume typing. That usually happens when I scroll up or down the page too quickly. At first I thought the problem had to be scroll speed of my mouse, but when I set the scroll speed to lowest speed, the problem continued unabated. Next, I went to Word (whoops, another backward jump to "unabated", even using one finger slow typing) to see if the problem would disappear there. It didn't. Some friends suggested that it might be "auto correct" causing the issue. I'm clueless as to where to go to check that, if indeed that might be the problem. At this point, the only thing I know for sure is that speed is the catalysts that feeds and exacerbates the issue. Might any of you have a suggestion as to a possible cause?? Hah, just as I typed "suggestion", half my text became automatically highlited and all text below "my mouse" was deleted. Thank God for the back button! BIZARRE!!

 

[indianacarnie]

Is this a laptop?

 

[augusta]

Yes!

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Scott's on the right track. You are probably brushing your thumb or palm on the touch pad so lightly you don't feel it but it's still enough to relocate the mouse pointer (cursor). It's one of the reasons I detest touch pads. I disable the miserable, misbegotten, abominations as soon as I fire up my notebooks and just use a wireless mouse with them (if there was a way I could permanently disable the stupid things, I would be all over it like stink on skunk)

 

[indianacarnie]

I totally agree about the touchpad. Either turn it off completely or disable it when your mouse is plugged in. I'm sure this will solve your problems. I always turn mine off as I hate the silly things.

My Asus and my Dell laptops both were so sensitive that even hitting the keyboard keys too hard would cause the cursor to jump around as in your problem. There should be a FN + F(something) combination to turn it off. Its different for each brand. In certain types you can turn it off in your mouse settings too.

 

[mitchell65]

I disable the miserable, misbegotten, abominations as soon as I fire up my notebooks and just use a wireless mouse with them (if there was a way I could permanently disable the stupid things, I would be all over it like stink on skunk)

I have a wireless mouse permanently plugged in and have set the touhpad to be disabled if a second pointing device is installed. As the wireless mouse is always plugged in then to all intents and purposes the touchpad is permnently disabled. It would drive me even pottier than I am now if I had to disable the touch pad every time I switched on!

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I disable the miserable, misbegotten, abominations as soon as I fire up my notebooks and just use a wireless mouse with them (if there was a way I could permanently disable the stupid things, I would be all over it like stink on skunk)

I have a wireless mouse permanently plugged in and have set the touhpad to be disabled if a second pointing device is installed. As the wireless mouse is always plugged in then to all intents and purposes the touchpad is permnently disabled. It would drive me even pottier than I am now if I had to disable the touch pad every time I switched on!

Sadly, my Lenovos (otherwise, great machines) do not have the ability to do that or disable the touchpad. Fortunately, it doesn't bither me a bot.

 

[augusta]

Solved

Thanks to all for suggesting solutions. You were all correct. My Acer Aspire issue was solved by using the Fn and F5 keys to turn off the touchpad. Now I can type away and not curse every 5 seconds. Bless you all!!

 

[mitchell65]

Sadly, my Lenovos (otherwise, great machines) do not have the ability to do that or disable the touchpad. Fortunately, it doesn't bither me a bot.

If you disable via the BIOS does that not hold good until you enable it via the BIOS?

 

[RolandJS]

For me, it was background-running security and monitoring programs/utilities clashing periodically.
And, I would think BIOS [or UEFI] would allow touchpad to be disabled. Already found out Control Panel --> Device Manager --> touchpad [under mouse?], uninstall doesn't work, it simply gets reinstalled.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Sadly, my Lenovos (otherwise, great machines) do not have the ability to do that or disable the touchpad. Fortunately, it doesn't bither me a bot.

If you disable via the BIOS does that not hold good until you enable it via the BIOS?

Nope, there is no prevision there either (mutter, mutter, mumble, mumble).