Setting up the touchpad on a windows 8.1 laptop. Touchpad: how to set up a device on a laptop that replaces a physical mouse

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The trackpad on Apple laptops takes some getting used to as it is different from the touchpads on other laptops (it doesn't have buttons, it doesn't have any markings, it calibrates differently).

Steps

Part 1

Open system settings

There are two ways to open System Preferences, which contains trackpad and mouse settings:

1. At the bottom of the screen, click on the three gears icon. A window with system settings will open.

   • Or click on the magnifying glass icon on the right upper corner screen (next to the clock), or press Command+Spacebar.

2. In the window that opens, enter "System Preferences". Icon system settings will appear in the "Top Hit" section or in the "Applications" section. Click the system settings icon to open them.

   • The System Preferences window is divided into sections, each of which includes utility icons to make them easier to find. Sections: "Personal" (Personal), "Hardware" (Equipment), "Internet & Wireless" (Internet), "System" (System), "Other" (Other).

   Part 2

   Find and open trackpad settings

   Part 3

   Change trackpad settings

   Part 4

   Setting scrolling and zooming options

   1. In the trackpad settings window, go to the "Scroll & Zoom" tab (Scrolling and zooming). This tab includes four options (to enable an option, check the box next to it, and to disable it, uncheck it). These are the most famous options in Apple devices, as they are also present in iOS.

      • The first option is "Scroll direction: natural". Specifies scrolling using the trackpad, not scrollbars on the screen.
      • By default, scrolling is done with your fingers. Touch two fingers on the trackpad and move them up/down to scroll down/up the page. If you disable this option, the direction of movement will be reversed.

   2. The second option is "Zoom in or out". To zoom in, place two folded fingers on the trackpad and spread them apart. To zoom out, bring your spread fingers together.

      • The third option is "Smart zoom". Just double click on the trackpad with two fingers to zoom in/out. You can zoom in/out more efficiently if you put your fingers together on the trackpad.
      • The "Rotate" option is usually used when editing an image to rotate it with finger movements on the trackpad. Touch and rotate two fingers on the trackpad to rotate the pattern left or right.

   3. In the trackpad settings window, go to the "More gestures" tab. This tab includes many options for fine tuning trackpad, for example, for navigating through pages, moving between full-screen applications, displaying system elements (Notification Center, Mission Control, Launch Pad, Desktop).

      • Use the "App Expose" option to view the windows of all running applications. To do this, use three or four fingers; occasionally use your thumb when you pinch or spread your fingers (Notification Center only requires two fingers).
      • Some of the options include sub-options with which you can customize the finger gestures. It is recommended that you watch the video for each option so that you can understand its purpose and decide whether to enable this option or not.

Each laptop is equipped with a special field for manipulation, which is called a touchpad. In fact, this module replaces a physical mouse, which is not always possible to use. And so, by swiping your finger over the surface, you can easily carry out any action. We will talk about what a touchpad is, how to set it up on a laptop in such a way that working with your computer is as comfortable and efficient as possible, in this article.

How is the touchpad?

So, outwardly, we perceive the virtual pointer as a field with two keys, highlighted on the panel under the keyboard of our laptop. In fact, this control zone is not distinguished by anything special, except for some symbols or frames (in some cases).

At the same time, from the very beginning of work, we understand how the touchpad functions. We also most often do not think about how to set up its coordinated work on a laptop, because after starting the computer everything functions at the proper level.

The logic of the device is also extremely simple - the finger that moves along its surface corresponds to the direction of the cursor on the screen. In addition, there are other possibilities, such as recognition of multiple touches at the same time. Getting to know them, however, is not essential.

How to enable touchpad?

Since the cursor control field is located directly below the keyboard, it is natural for the user to touch it accidentally. This is unpleasant, especially when you are watching a movie, and the cursor constantly changes its location. To prevent this, a feature to disable the touchpad has been developed.

This is done either using a separate button placed on the surface of the laptop, or using the Fn hot keys and the one that is responsible for the operation of the module. If you see that your touchpad does not react to anything, you don’t know how to turn it on - try the indicated options, one of them will definitely work. Remember that the procedure for activating a virtual mouse is the same as disabling it.

Touchpad settings

Most often, the touchpad works normally on a computer. As a rule, no one thinks how to set it up on a laptop. In this case, there are situations when the cursor does not move, and the user does not understand why this is happening. In this case, you need special program for the touchpad. To put it simply, we are talking about a driver that will establish a “contact” between your software and coordinating their work. Let's just say that if your laptop was originally offered with an operating system that did not contain the specified drivers, they will need to be installed "from above". This is done from the official website of the company that released your laptop.

Other problems

Of course, there may be other reasons why the touchpad stopped working (not related to drivers). To understand the situation and install them, you need to spend more time studying. First of all, experts recommend starting with the "Properties" of a module such as "Mouse" (and in our case, this is a touchpad). How to configure its operation on a laptop is another matter: you need to go to the "Control Panel", to the "Mouse" tab, where you can edit the settings of your virtual mouse module in the "Device Settings" submenu.

The variety of available options depends solely on how “fancy” your laptop is and, accordingly, the touchpad installed on it. For example, on newer models of computers there is a "multi-touch" function (the ability to read several touches at the same time), as well as the ability to turn pages while reading according to a simplified scheme. All these and other options are available in this section, you can customize them to ensure comfortable work. Here you can also determine whether the device is physically connected and whether it is available. Perhaps, if your touchpad is not responding to commands, this tab will describe the cause of this problem.

An alternative to a virtual mouse

Just because you have a laptop doesn't mean you have to use a touchpad. How to turn on a physical mouse is described in many instructions, despite the fact that this procedure is quite simple. All you need is to get a mouse that you like in your own way. appearance and more features, as well as connect it to a computer's USB port. Further, your pointer will either function normally without any problems, or it will require you to install additional package drivers. After that, you can get to work.

In fact, whether it is worth using a mouse, or you can get by with a touchpad, depends solely on the user himself. This is a purely individual matter. There are different categories of operations that we carry out with our computer: normal use, work in online games. Each of them implies a certain set of actions that need to be performed: if the touchpad is enough to work in the browser, then playing your favorite Counter-Strike game without a mouse, of course, will be very difficult.

Today I want to tell about your personal problem, which I encountered after the penultimate windows updates 10 and also how I solved this problem. The fact is that as the main computer i use a laptop, which is equipped touchpad from the manufacturer Synaptics. Their laptop touchpads are the most common so the possibility of a problem for me was extremely unexpected, but nevertheless it appeared, and now I will tell about everything in more detail.

What is the problem?

Any touchpads used in laptops, for full-fledged work and their further adjustment during use, are equipped by the manufacturer special drivers, which not only improve device performance, but also add to the system programs containing list of options for touch panel control.

Synaptics Touchpad tab is missing

Synaptics is no exception and for each model of its touchpads creates similar software which works perfectly in conjunction with the rest software installed on the laptop when it first started. That's just in the process of using such a device, the list of programs available on it changes from time to time. Something is installed, something is removed, and something is being updated. updated and operating system, which is a priori shouldn't be a problem but only solve them. However, the more complex technologies become, the more difficult it is to improve them. without adding new problems. This is what I encountered. After the penultimate Windows 10 updates that was somewhere in February-March, I have lost all Synaptics Touchpad settings, which were located in a specially designated mouse settings tab. They simply disappeared, and with it touchpad stopped working properly, ignoring all the parameters I entered earlier.

Unsuccessful solutions

First of all, of course, I tried installing the Synaptics Touchpad driver, which was intended for my laptop, considering that it was just crashed on update. But in vain! Installation didn't even start, since the system said that already a newer version of the driver has been installed and to continue the operation you need to delete it through "Programs and Features". But here's the catch - drivers was not on the list installed programs , which meant there was nothing to delete.

Next I tried to find a solution on the internet, believing that not the only one faced the problem. And so it happened. Problem arose many, but it all came down to Microsoft has nothing to do and it is better to contact technical support laptop manufacturer. And the problem, by the way, arose among laptop owners completely different brands.

Typical Microsoft Support response

There were also tips roll back the driver version to the previous one where this problem did not exist. And yes I tried to do it, but here another snag arose. When I tried to roll back the driver, it was reset to the point that provided by Microsoft, suitable only for basic touchpad operation. And in theory, on top of it you can already install the Synaptics driver any desired version, but before that it is required to restart a computer. And that was where it all ended, because after a reboot, as active, phantom driver used again from Synaptics latest version.

Installing the May Updates for Windows 10

Then, literally three days ago, Windows 10 received a new service pack on which I pinned great expectations, because I thought that she would correct an unfortunate mistake. But no, the system has been updated, but the problem remains. And here I decided that it was worth tackle this issue closely., which will be discussed further.

As it turned out everything is very easy, but at the same time not so obvious as you would like. In general, in order to solve my problem with the loss of settings, I did the following:

Option "B"

If for some reason described above the method does not return you the settings panel Synaptics Touchpad, then you can use the second option. However, to have in stock, downloaded from the official website of the laptop manufacturer, driver nevertheless necessary.

Further, if the driver is in the archive, then it should unpack and find the file in the resulting folder - setup.exe. Run the file by double-clicking the left mouse button and wait for the following dialog box to appear:

Now just install the driver like any other operating system program Windows. If you are having difficulty with this, you can refer to detailed instructions. Now that driver installed, you can restart your device and customize your touchpad.

It is also worth mentioning that even a successful driver installation Synaptics Touchpad is temporary solution, since after the next, somehow global updates Windows driver will removed from the system so its going to have to reinstall. But this already no problem.

If the touchpad settings still don't show up...

What to do if everything drivers loaded, all instructions followed, all advice followed, and the touchpad settings are still never showed up? On the one hand, you can get upset and take it for granted, but on the other hand, you can take matters into your own hands and independently do what the settings were supposed to do this pointing device.

So why do we need settings at all Synaptics Touchpad? After all, the main reason why we put them is automatic shutdown touchpad when connecting a full-fledged mouse, right? Right. So let's just achieve the desired result so that this functionality was present in the actual absence of settings touchpad. For this we use " Registry Editor", namely:

However, if your the mouse is not wired, that is, it is likely that more needs to be done some action:

After all steps have been taken, main function, which the settings should have performed Synaptics Touchpad, will be successful without them.

Final words

As you can see there is nothing complicated about it, however, like any action in Windows, the solution to the problem does not seem as obvious and understandable as we would like. Good thing that Microsoft understands this. and with every update they try make the system intuitive for users of any level of depth and awareness. However, not everything in this world depends on only one single corporation that creates its own operating system for tens of thousands of devices created every day. No less responsibility for proper work is personal computer manufacturers, which should support their devices by releasing actual updates and responding to user complaints. And if some succeeded in this, then others let everything go and forget about their customers as soon as they replenish their budget by buying obviously unpromising device. I would like to say that it all remains on their conscience, but unfortunately she doesn't have them. However, if you encounter problems using your personal computer, which the manufacturer does not want to decide then you can write about them to me at relevant page and I will try to help you with them.

How to enable the touchpad on a laptop in Windows 10 if, after installing the system or updating it, it suddenly failed and there were problems with it? We suggest you familiarize yourself with several ways.

Most often, the problem with setting up the touchpad on windows 10 is due to the lack of software or the presence of “inappropriate” drivers that Windows itself installs. But there are other options as well.

To rule out stupid mistakes due to inattention, first look at the keyboard of your laptop. There should be quite understandable designation on the keys designed to turn the touchpad on and off:

Try first pressing any such key, or it, but in combination with the Fn button. It is likely that these measures should be enough to fix the problem.

On the most common laptop models - HP, Lenovo and Asus - there are the following combinations to enable the touchpad option:

• for Asus - Fn + F9 or Fn + F7

• for Lenovo - Fn + F8 and Fn + F5

For the HP brand, they came up with a separate key to control this function. And if it is not there, then press twice (or once, but for a long time) on touch panel in the corner on the left.

Another option on how to set up the touchpad on a Windows 10 laptop: go to - Mouse. Perhaps it was disabled in the touchpad settings for some reason.

How to enable scrolling on touchpad Windows 10?

Lack of touchpad drivers is the most common reason why. The first thing to try is to install them manually, because sometimes the new software does not fit (the one that Windows installs itself), and the official "old" ones perfectly fix the problem. Required Drivers You can find it on your laptop manufacturer's website in the Support section by selecting the driver download for your model. If no suitable software is found for Windows 10, download drivers for version 8 or 7. Further, setting up scrolling on the Windows 10 touchpad will not be difficult.

Setting up touchpad gestures in Windows 10

In addition, there is also a set of gesture controls. An important condition for ensuring the correct operation of gestures is the compatibility of the touchpad with the OS and correct installation programs. We talked about this above.

Most users prefer to disable gestures completely. Disconnection is performed as shown in the screenshot:

How to disable touchpad on windows 10 laptop?

Indeed, very often the touch panel prevents a person from working, so turning it off becomes relevant. Let's see how.

Now let's see how to disable the touchpad on a Windows 10 laptop if there are no manufacturer's drivers.

The touchpad is a touch pad that works like a mouse in desktop computer. At first, many users are skeptical about this part of the laptop, as it seems uncomfortable. In fact, it's all just a matter of time - with prolonged use, the touchpad becomes no less comfortable than a mouse.

When using a laptop computer, it is not always possible to use an external mouse

Another thing is that the touch panel does not always work and respond to touch when turned on, so you should know how to turn it on and if you set it up for the most convenient use. Let's figure out how to enable the touchpad on a laptop and change its settings.

How to enable touchpad

There are several ways to enable the touchpad:

• Many modern laptops have a small indentation right next to the touchpad - use this to turn the touchpad on or off. If you do not have such an in-depth button, use the following method.

• Every laptop has function key Fn, which serves to perform different tasks when pressed with the buttons in the row from F1 to F12 One of them is specially reserved for launching the touchpad and most often there is a corresponding mark on it. Therefore, try pressing Fn with one of the keys in this row, or use each of them in turn.

• It is possible that the touchpad is disabled in the system itself, and it needs to be activated through the BIOS - go to the menu when you start the laptop or reboot it, find the Pointing Device section, where the device will be indicated. To enable it, you need to select the option Enable, disable - Disable. Do not forget to save the changes by selecting the F10 combination or another combination that says Save and Exit.

If all the above actions did not work, it is worth checking if everything is in order with the drivers - they may be outdated. To do this, do the following:

• Through Start, go to the Control Panel menu and select Device Manager.
• Find the Mouse section, the touchpad line and look at the hardware properties - if the drivers are outdated or do not work (this happens after replacing the operating system), this will be indicated in the window that appears.
• If something is wrong with the drivers and they need to be updated or reinstalled, the computer will do it on its own, or you can find the necessary files on the Internet and specify the path to them in the hardware properties.

If you cannot turn on the touchpad through the operating system, key combinations, BIOS, it is most likely a hardware malfunction - in this situation, you will have to bring the laptop in for repair.

Touchpad settings

In addition to the fact that this detail can be turned on or off, the touchpad can be configured so that it is most convenient for you to use it at work or at leisure. Let's see how you can change its settings.

So, to change the parameters of the touchpad, you should follow these steps:

• Go through Start to Control Panel.
• Select Device Manager and the Mouse section.
• Open the line with the name of the touchpad, select properties and in the window that appears, under the name of the equipment, click on the parameters.

What settings might be useful for you? Pay attention to the following options:

• You can enable or disable scrolling, activate the ChiralMotion function, which allows you to scroll through pages not only from top to bottom, but also in a circular motion - this is convenient if you are scrolling through a long document or website.

• Modern laptop models support multi-touch, which allows you to work with the touchpad with not one, but several touches, which expands its functionality - you can also activate this tool here in the device settings.
• One of the most important tools is sensitivity, which can be adjusted according to criteria such as accidental touches and finger typing. For example, if you constantly hit the touchpad while typing and it responds, you might want to lower the scale in the Palm touch control setting. If you want the touchpad to be less or more responsive to your fingers, select Touch Sensitivity.

• In some cases, if you still constantly touch the touchpad when typing, you can activate the lock when using the keyboard - this way you will be sure that the cursor will remain in its place and will not scroll the page until you enter text or click on individual buttons.
• Additionally, the speed of cursor movement, the area of ​​pressure on different parts of the touchpad and the scrolling speed are adjusted.

As you can see, the touchpad, although different from the mouse familiar to desktop users, can be well adapted to your needs. Now you know how to enable the touchpad using several methods and configure its settings.