Out Damn Tap!
January 29, 2024 7:21 AM   Subscribe

My Dell laptop has an oversensitive touchpad. How do I stop it from interpreting the barest touch as a tap?

I have a Dell Latitude 3540 running Windows 11. It has a touchpad without separate buttons for clicking. The touchpad has a built-in tapping mechanism, i.e. if you press down hard the touchpad depresses and makes a clicking sound. It seems like that's what I should do to tap, for example if I want to select a new window or click a button.

The problem is that the touchpad also interprets accidental touches as taps. This comes up relatively frequently when I am typing. The heel of my right hand will brush along the edge of the touchpad, and all of a sudden a new window will be selected, or a button will be clicked, or some other random thing will be done.

I have adjusted the setting for Touchpad / Taps to be "Low Sensitivity". That made no difference. I'm thinking of taping a piece of paper over the right edge of the touchpad as a last resort. I also sometimes turn off the touchpad altogether and just use a mouse, but it would be nice not to have to do that.

Anyone have any ideas for how to fix this touchy touchpad? Is there some hidden software setting I haven't found yet?

thx
posted by Winnie the Proust to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)
 
I only have a copy of Windows 10 handy, but I have turned it completely off. Have you checked under the mouse configuration for tap control?
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:46 AM on January 29, 2024 [1 favorite]


I had the exact same problem but, since I actually prefer a mouse, I just have the pad completely turned off.
posted by mrphancy at 7:51 AM on January 29, 2024 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Here is the button in the Windows 10 settings.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:54 AM on January 29, 2024 [1 favorite]


Some Dell laptops use Cypress drivers for the touchpad which have a "Palm Rejection" feature, blocking taps from the heel of your hand while you're typing.

On Windows 10, this is accessed from Settings > Devices > Touchpad > Additional settings (side menu) > Cypress Trackpad.
posted by Klipspringer at 8:03 AM on January 29, 2024 [3 favorites]


Response by poster: Tell Me No Lies has it. I had seen that setting, but didn't realize it was referring to light touches (rather than full-force clicks). Thank you! I look forward to having a laptop that is lawful rather than chaotic going forward.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 10:40 AM on January 29, 2024


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