A majority of laptop users make use of touchpads instead of mouse pointer due to the ease of access. But, you will still find many of them navigating across the display with their cursors. According to some of these users, connecting a physical mouse to the device can make the touchpad non-responsive. Also, a few situations have been observed, where the touchpad driver can create technical issues after attaching the mouse. Hence, it is better to keep the touchpad inactive in order to use the pointing device correctly on your laptop. Now, if you are looking for some step-wise instructions to disable touchpad Windows 10, refer to this article. Here, you will get to learn the best ways to turn off the touchpad in your Windows-based device.
Some Effective Methods to Disable Touchpad Windows 10:
If you are thinking how to disable touchpad on Windows 10, there are various methods to do so. Hence, let’s discuss a few ways to turn off the touchpad feature on your Windows-based devices.
Steps Before Applying Technical Instructions to Disable Touchpad
Here are some of the preliminary steps which you can follow to turn off the mousepad feature on Windows.
Notification Bar
If you are not aware of the exact location of the touchpad icon, go to the Notification area on your Windows. After that, spot the touchpad at the lower-right corner and right-click on its symbol. Then, select ‘Disable’ from the list of options and restart your system to save this setting.
Mouse Configuration
Another way to turn off the functionality of pointer is by navigating to the section of Mouse Settings. After that, select the ‘Additional mouse options’ tab and go to the ‘Device Settings’ options. If you are aware of the touchpad driver or device on your PC, choose it from the list of devices. Then, click on it and hit the ‘Disable’ button in order to turn off this touchpad feature on Windows.
Windows Settings
If you want another method to know how to disable touchpad on Windows 10, you can use the ‘Settings’ tab. This option is the most suitable solution for Windows 10 users and can be performed in a few simple steps. So, let’s discuss them in the following points.
First, click on the Windows Start menu and then select the ‘Settings’ tab. Next, locate the icon for ‘Devices’, which will show up along with Bluetooth, printers, and mouse. As the new window of ‘Devices’ opens, find the ‘Touchpad’ tab in the left pane. Many experts might recommend you to make some changes in the ‘Touchpad Sensitivity’ in the right pane. According to them, you need to select the low sensitivity option to reduce the functionality of your device’s touchpad. But, this will not be a permanent solution to turn off the touchpad on your Windows 10.
Hence, in order to make the touchpad disabled, spot the toggle switch below the heading of ‘Touchpad’. Then, click on it in such a way, the touchpad will be shown as ‘Off’. Now, you can exit the Settings window and test the touchpad to see if it is turned off. Somehow, if you are unable to disable touchpad Windows 10, try the following methods and check which one works.
Method 1- Use Control Panel on Windows
In case, you are unable to locate the icon of the touchpad in the notification area, use the Control Panel. However, on Windows 10 based computers, you can type ‘control’ in the Cortana search box. Then wait for Windows to display the matching apps and select ‘Control Panel’ from them.
Next, find the tab for ‘Hardware and Sound’ and then select ‘Devices and Printers’ from the sub-categories. After that, click on ‘Mouse’ and open its Properties window by double-clicking or right-clicking on it.
Here, you may find the feature, where Windows has disabled the touchpad option on the computer. In most of the Windows devices, this option is ‘Disable internal pointing device when the external USB pointing device is attached’.
So, make sure to enable touchpad by ticking on this checkbox or apply the steps according to the Windows configuration. Finally, click on the ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’ buttons to register these changes in your PC. Now, restart your computer and check whether you are able to disable touchpad Windows 10 properly.
Method 2- Open Windows Device Manager
There is another way to remove the functionality of touchpad by disabling the feature on Device Manager. Hence, open the Cortana search box in Windows 10 and type ‘device manager’ to access this window. The users can also use the Run dialog box by hitting the Windows logo and R buttons simultaneously.
In the box, type ‘devmgmt.msc’ in the text field and hit the ‘OK’ button. Now, wait for Windows to show the list of devices installed on your computer on the ‘Device Manager’ window.
Here, search for the section of ‘Mice and other pointing devices’ and find the entry for your touchpad. You need to right-click on this device and select ‘Disable’ from the list of options. If any popup window appears to confirm this action, you will have to hit the ‘Yes/OK’ tab.
However, always confirm that you have an additional pointing device to perform the tasks on your PC. Otherwise, disabling this feature can result in serious issues during the time of performing any task using a mouse or pointer.
Method 3- Stop ETD Control Center At Windows Startup
The non-tech savvy Windows users might not be aware of the programs, which can control the touchpad on your systems. One such program is the ETD Control Center, which starts whenever your PC boots up automatically. Hence, to make your touchpad stop or disable on your Windows 10, you need to change the settings for ETD Control Center. Basically, all you need to do is just prevent this program to run along with the Windows startup process.
To apply this method, the user has to open the Task Manager on Windows by hitting Ctrl, Shift and Esc buttons altogether. After launching the Windows Task Manager, go to the ‘Startup’ section and view the list of programs in it.
Next, scroll the list of the find ‘ETD Control Center’ and select this program configured to launch with computer boot up. Now, simply hit the ‘Disable’ tab and Windows will make sure that it never runs during the device booting process.
Method 4- Install Touchpad Blocking Tool on Windows
If you are unable to disable touchpad Windows 10 by following any of the above methods, try this one. Here, you can download and install a third-party tool for turning off your device’s touchpad. If you search the internet or consult a Windows professional, you can obtain a free or paid software to disable your mousepad. Let’s take an example of a touchpad blocking software, which you can easily find on the internet. After launching the app by following the instructions in its setup wizard, go through the features provided along with it. In many tools, you will be able to note down the keyboard shortcuts for turning the touchpad blocking program on or off. You can keep this option handy by adding the mousepad blocker in Notification Area on Windows 10.
In this article, we have covered a few tips in details to disable touchpad Windows 10 which you can easily apply on your device. If it doesn’t work or you want instructions to turn off touchpad on a specific laptop, you can contact a professional to get an immediate solution.