TouchFreeze & other solutions to the cursor jumping around

Several of our My Computer Headaches Yahoogroup members are having problems with their cursor jumping around randomly and even switching to other open programs (ex: from the internet browser to the word processor). This problem shows up in many different brands of laptops. One solution proposed is installing TouchFreeze. It is a utility for Windows which disables touchpad automatically while you are typing text. Some suspect that when we use the keyboard on a laptop we accidentally bump, graze or put pressure on the touchpad which is directly just below the keyboard. Of course you can always go to your Control Panel and proceed to Mouse Properties to disable your touchpad the long way. However, it still means you have to re-enable it when you'd like to use it. TouchFreeze makes doing this a little easier, and as long as you're not doing any heavy photo-editing that might necessitate the simultaneous use of the touchpad and keys, this should be a winner of a program for you. You should be able to find the TouchFreeze icon displayed in your System Tray. It is free and open-sourced that works with Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Windows Server 2003/2008, and Windows 7. More details on TouchFreeze here. Please note that this app might not work with certain laptops, but should work with most netbooks and laptops that lack the disable touchpad button.


For other possible solutions to the problem of the cursor jumping around randomly you can try the following suggestions whichever is applicable to your laptop:

1.  Double click on touchpad icon in your system tray. Click on "Pointer Options". Then click on "Advanced"  tab in left upper corner. Click on Advanced Feature setting. Click on "Settings" in Pointer speed and tapping setting box. Uncheck "Enable Tap" box. Click Apply.  

2.  Turn off the Enhanced Pointer Precision Feature. To turn it off click Start, click Run, type "control mouse" (without the quotes), and then click OK. Click the Pointer Options tab, uncheck the Enhance pointer precision checkbox, click Apply and OK.OR:Go to Control Panel ->Mouse -> Pointer Options -> Uncheck the "Enhance Pointer Precision" and check if it resolves the issue. 

3.  Someone in another forum concluded that in his case at least the jumping cursor problem was a boot sector virus infection issue. He fixed it by starting his computer in Safe Mode (by continuously hitting F8 while his PC was booting up until he saw the bootup menu), then doing a virus scan. He figured this out when after reformatting his hard drive, the problem persisted; therefore the only place for the information to hide was in the boot sector. When you run a virus scan in Safe Mode, the virus cannot hide itself from the antivirus scanner. At least this one worked for him. It is worth a try.

4.  Paris of MCH suggested going to the Mouse Control Panel. There should be a setting there that says "Hide pointer while typing". The location of that setting will vary depending on which type of hardware drivers you have installed, but enabling that setting should help.

5.  Click Start>PC Help and tools.
Click Application Recovery.
Click driver installation.
Highlight and click keyboard software.

6.  This one was posted in a Microsoft forum:

You may also try to update the drivers for mouse by following the steps:

a. Open Device Manager by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Device Manager. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

b. In Device Manager, locate the device you want to update, and then double-click the device name.

c. Click the Driver tab, and then click Update Driver and follow the instructions.

For more information refer the link to update drivers:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/Update-a-driver-for-hardware-that-isnt-working-properly

You may refer the following link and perform an online scan on your computer to check whether your computer is been infected by any virus:
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm