Typing in all programs has become impossible

suejmac · Jan 26, 2016

Impossible to type w/o cursor jumping around, sometimes deleting everything, opening the 'undo, cut, copy, paste' window', attaching files, opening the webpage coding window, etc. Sometime just impossible to send a simple email or facebook post. Can this be out of date drivers? Norton says 'no viruses or malware '. Malwarebytes suggested I contact you as they agree with Norton. Can you help? I have 2 older Acer laptops, one win10 and one win7. grrrr!!

OldGrayGary · Jan 26, 2016

You might find relief by lowering the sensitivity of your laptops' touchpads. Here's a link to a discussion for that, by a few users with Acer laptops:
Adjusting touchpad sensitivity - Acer Community - 32123

In short, you visit the Control Panel and look for the Mouse applet, which usually controls both mouse & touchpad settings.

You can also test to see if the problems disappear when you toggle the touchpad on and off. You probably can use a special "function key" common on most laptops, that can turn the touchpad on and off. On many Acer models, it used to be a key combination (pressing both at once) of Fn and F6 ... look for a key on your keyboard with a little touchpad-like icon. Here's an example:

If you tend not to use the touchpad while typing, toggling it off while typing might be an easy solution (at least until you can get the touchpad sensitivity fixed).

One last test you can do - to verify that it isn't a driver issue, or touchpad hardware going haywire: attach an external keyboard. If everything types in normally with the external, it's likely that all you have to fix are touchpad settings.

Let us know if that doesn't work.

Digerati · Jan 27, 2016

Can this be out of date drivers?

No. Out-of-date drivers do not cause "new" problems. A corrupt driver can cause new problems but you typically see errors in Device Manager then.

This problem is most commonly caused by thumbs brushing the touchpad. I agree with Gary and recommend you disable the touchpad. Then use an external mouse as a test. Note that different notebooks use different Fn key combinations. I don't know if Acer consistently uses Fn + F6, but on my Toshiba, it is Fn + F9. So look carefully at your keys or check your manual. And on my Toshiba the icon is of a mouse and a circled mouse with a line through it.

I have 2 older Acer laptops, one win10 and one win7.

Are you saying this is happening on both computers? If so, then that would lead me to suspect malware.

suejmac · Jan 27, 2016

Just turned the touchpad off and 'so far, so good'. The problem usually starts very soon after beginning to type and I just typed a whole page of nonsense in Word and then sent an email, a place where bad things always happened with no errors. I will continue to monitor this and advise in a couple of days. I am going to work on the other computer this afternoon and see if I have the same results. I have typed this whole message (longer than it needed to be, for sure) without an error. This is somewhat of a modern miracle!! Thank you for the help and I will post again in a day or so and mention the 2nd computer.

suejmac · Jan 29, 2016

It's definitely fixed on my main computer. The cursor is stable and no goofy stuff has happened, not even once. I have been unable to turn off the touchpad on the old Acer but that is not really a problem as I use that computer for playing Spider and FreeCell solitaire games and for storing my eBook library and rarely type on it. Thank you again. I will be making a small donation and staying as a member. I would never have figured this out on my own. You guys are awesome!

OldGrayGary · Jan 30, 2016

Very glad that you can enjoy your computers again - Cheers!

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Typing in all programs has become impossible

suejmac

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OldGrayGary

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Digerati

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Microsoft MVP (Ret.)

suejmac

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suejmac

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OldGrayGary

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Typing in all programs has become impossible

suejmac

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OldGrayGary

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Digerati

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suejmac

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suejmac

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OldGrayGary

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