# Weird Keyboard Phenomenon - Anyone Else?



## SifuPhil (Nov 7, 2013)

I've been experiencing a weird phenomenon from my laptop keyboard for a while now, and wondered if anyone else had experienced the same thing.

I'm a fast typist - 60wpm on regular alphanumeric text - so I wonder if I've reached some kind of limit for my keyboard. What happens is that every once in a while - actually, a dozen or so times a day - while I am typing a passage the cursor will jump back several words or even up to a previous sentence and insert what I'm typing into that section. I have to stop, delete, reposition the cursor and start over.

I've got an Intel Core2 Duo processor running at 2.20GHz, Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit and the laptop itself is several years old. Might the keyboard membranes be starting to go? Or should I be looking at my Control Panel to change some of the parameters?


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## Jillaroo (Nov 7, 2013)

_I have that happen to me as well Phil, it is only about once a month it happens, but it's so annoying having to go back and retype all the words_


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## Diwundrin (Nov 7, 2013)

Not these days! 

  My days of burning the circuits in keyboards are over.  I could outpace a teleprinter's keyboard limits once, (about 65 bauds  pm)  and they did some pretty strange things too, but the laptop is in no danger.  De machik iss goooorrrn.


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## maxHR (Nov 7, 2013)

Is your hand or wrist coming into contact with the laptop touchpad while typing?


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## SifuPhil (Nov 8, 2013)

Jillaroo said:


> _I have that happen to me as well Phil, it is only about once a month it happens, but it's so annoying having to go back and retype all the words_



Thanks, Jillie - I'm glad I'm not just imagining it, like that huge blue banana sitting in the recliner right now. layful:



Diwundrin said:


> Not these days!
> 
> My days of burning the circuits in keyboards are over.  I could outpace a teleprinter's keyboard limits once, (about 65 bauds  pm)  and they did some pretty strange things too, but the laptop is in no danger.  De machik iss goooorrrn.



Awww, I'm sorry for your loss, but thanks. 



maxHR said:


> Is your hand or wrist coming into contact with the laptop touchpad while typing?



That's an idea - I don't _think_ it is, but I'll check for that. Thank you much! :eagerness:


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## Jillaroo (Nov 8, 2013)

_*I do too, mines wearing a scarf is yours and it has these awful beady eyes*_


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## SifuPhil (Nov 8, 2013)

Jillaroo said:


> _*I do too, mines wearing a scarf is yours and it has these awful beady eyes*_



Yup, yup, that's it! 

Somehow, it has a strange a-peel ...


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## SifuPhil (Nov 8, 2013)

I think I may have found a solution to this problem, if anyone else ever encounters it.

After doing a search I found a simple little program to download that seems to have totally eliminated the problem. Called Touchfreeze, the program disables your touchpad while you're typing. You just download it from the site and run it. 

So far, so good  *fingers crossed*


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## That Guy (Nov 8, 2013)

Not a problem on a Mac...


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## Diwundrin (Nov 8, 2013)

One of the function keys on top row of the Toshiba controls on/off for the touchpad.  Just don't ask me to remember which one.


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## SifuPhil (Nov 8, 2013)

Diwundrin said:


> One of the function keys on top row of the Toshiba controls on/off for the touchpad.  Just don't ask me to remember which one.



Yes, I ran into several fixes offered for this problem. Some were specific for a given version of Windows; others for different brands and models of 'puters. I just took the one that most of the people seemed to say worked, and it turned out that I've been lucky. I've been typing since early this morning and I haven't had the problem reoccur yet. *crossed fingers, toes and eyes*

BTW - I tried to find where to "Turn off my touchpad sensitivity" according to one person's "fix" and couldn't find anything on my HP. 

I'm just really surprised that MaxHR's suggestion turned out to be correct (thanks again, Max!) - usually I'm aware of how my body is interacting with its environment no matter where I am or what I'm doing. This is sort of a bummer for me, that a part of my hand was hitting the touchpad and I wasn't even aware of it ...


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## Jillaroo (Nov 8, 2013)

Well i have a very small button about 1/2 inch long sitting directly above the touchpad, when i press it an orange light comes on i can type what i want and if i press on the touchpad nothing happens so it stops from making mistakes by accidently touching the touchpad. Also the cursor doesn't work until i release that button.


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## SifuPhil (Nov 8, 2013)

Jillaroo said:


> Well i have a very small button about 1/2 inch long sitting directly above the touchpad, when i press it an orange light comes on i can type what i want and if i press on the touchpad nothing happens so it stops from making mistakes by accidently touching the touchpad. Also the cursor doesn't work until i release that button.



Well, THIS is embarrassing! 

Big computer brain here and since I bought this thing I wondered what that button was for. 


I'm going to go sit in the corner now.


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## Jillaroo (Nov 8, 2013)

_Phil don't feel stupid , i only found it by mistake a few weeks back , i like to find out what things do so i pressed it and bingo, i was so pleased with myself you would have  thought i had found a goldmine, i rang my daughter to tell her my good news and maybe surprise her with something she didn't know for a change, but bu@@er it she already knew, i felt so deflated. 
               Wouldn't it be nice if these manufacturers included everything in their manuals, i won't hold my breath though. _


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## SifuPhil (Nov 8, 2013)

Jillaroo said:


> _Wouldn't it be nice if these manufacturers included everything in their manuals, i won't hold my breath though. _



Oh, now, wait - they have _manuals_?!? Since when???



Still, it's amazing that my brain never made the connection between the typing problems I was having and that little white/red light between my hands. It's like that Poe story _The Purloined Letter_ - the best place to hide something is in plain sight. 

And it isn't as if I use the typepad (I call it a mousepad or thumbpad, even though neither ever goes on it) very much at all - I'm a keyboard-mouse-and-arrow-keys kind of guy. If I had known I would have turned it off long ago. 

The downside of this is, now I have no excuse *not* to type that copy of _War and Peace_ I've been putting off.


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## Diwundrin (Nov 8, 2013)

*When all else fails, read the instructions.*

_...extract from the Gospel of Ikea._


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## SifuPhil (Nov 8, 2013)

Diwundrin said:


> *When all else fails, read the instructions.*
> 
> _...extract from the Gospel of Ikea._



No real man would _ever_ be caught dead doing such an _unmanly_ thing! 

I never asked for directions when I traveled and I didn't ask for help when one of my students shoved a sword into my kidney - do you honestly believe after using computers for so long I would actually RTFM?
 :lofl:  


*Diamonds may be forever, but ignorance is infinite.*
~ _The Gospel Of Saint Philstivus_, V.5, L.4


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## Diwundrin (Nov 8, 2013)

Doh~!  What was I thinking? 


 Man = instruction manual... like that's ever gonna happen!


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## Diwundrin (Nov 9, 2013)

I found it!  :wiggle:It's one above the 5 on a Toshiba laptop. It does the on/off enable touchpad thing.  I now see what you're talking about Phil, turned mine on and the text was dancin' all over the page because I've acquired the nasty habit of resting my wrists on the touchpad area due to the table being a tad high.


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## That Guy (Nov 10, 2013)




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