If you spend many hours at a time working on your laptop computer. It is essential that you make sure to sit with the correct posture and try to use your touchpad and keyboard from the correct angle. In order to put less stress on your arms or wrists. Many users that do serious work whenever the computer is in a static position on a desk or table might use an external keyboard and mouse in order to make things more comfortable. Just read this article to know all about How to Disable Touchpad in Windows 10.
The problem with trying to use your standard laptop keyboard in a really comfortable position is the touchpad happens to be rather inconveniently placed as well. It’s not hard to often find yourself touching the pad as well as buttons with the palm of your hand. When you are typing and moving the cursor from the current position to another part of the page. On some laptops, you can also use hotkeys like Fn+F7 to disable the touchpad. However, many computers don’t have such a function either built-in or through the touchpad’s own driver software.
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How to Disable Touchpad in Windows 10
There are quite a few methods to turn off the touchpad on your Windows 10 laptop. One can either dig around Windows Settings & the Device Manager to turn it off or take the aid of an external third-party application to shun the touchpad.
Although, the easiest method is just to use the keyboard shortcut/hotkey that most laptop & keyboard manufacturers incorporate as well. The enable-disable touchpad key, if present, can also be found in the top row of the keyboard and is mostly one of the f-numbered keys (Such as fn key + f9). The key will be marked with an icon resembling the touchpad or also a finger touching a square.
Also, some laptops like the HP branded ones contain a physical switch or button on the top right corner of the touchpad that when double-clicked disables or turns on the touchpad. Moving on to the more software-focused methods, we start off by turning off the touchpad via the Windows Settings.
Disable Touchpad Through Device Manager
Device Manager helps windows users to view and control any and all hardware connected to their systems. We can also use the device manager to enable or disable a certain piece of hardware (including the touchpad on laptops). And also update or uninstall device drivers well. To disable the touchpad through the device manager, just follow the below steps:
- Open Device Manager with one of the below methods.
- Tap Windows Key + X (or right-click on the start menu button) and choose Device Manager from the power user menu
- Then type devmgmt.msc in Run command (Launch run via pressing Windows Key + R) and tap on OK.
- Hit Windows Key + S (or click on the start button), then search for Device Manager, and hit enter.
- From the list of connected devices, just expand Mice and other pointing devices via clicking on the arrow to its left or double-clicking on the title.
- It is also possible you might find more than one entry for the touchpad under the Mice and other pointing devices menu. If you already know which one corresponds to your touchpad, then right-click on it and choose Disable Device.
However, if you have multiple entries, turn them off one by one until you manage to successfully turn off your touchpad.
Disable ETD Control Center
The ETD control center is basically short for Elan Trackpad Device Control Center and as obvious, controls the trackpad in some laptops. The ETD program automatically starts whenever your laptop boots up. The touchpad only works when ETD is running in the background as well. Avoiding the ETD control center from launching during boot up will, in turn, turn off the touchpad. But, if the touchpad on your laptop isn’t regulated via the ETD control center, you guys are better off trying one of the other methods mentioned in this article.
To avoid ETD Control Center from running on startup:
- Launch Task Manager with any of the following methods:
- Tap on the Start button, search for Task Manager and click on Open when the search returns
- Then right-click on the Start button and choose Task Manager from the power user menu.
- Tap on ctrl + alt + del and choose Task Manager
- Press ctrl + shift + ESC to directly open Task Manager
- Switch to the Startup tab in the Task Manager.
- Now locate the ETD Control Center from the list of programs and select it via clicking on it.
- At last, click on the Disable button at the bottom right corner of the task manager window.
(Just like that, you can right-click on ETD Control Center and then choose Disable from the options menu)
Turn Off Touchpad Via Windows 10 Settings
If your laptop is using a precision touchpad, you can turn it off using the touchpad settings in the Windows Settings. But, for laptops with a non-precision type touchpad, the option to disable the touchpad is not directly included in settings. They can still turn off the touchpad through Advanced touchpad settings.
- Launch Windows Settings with any of the methods mentioned below
- Tap on the start/windows button, then search for Settings, and press Enter.
- Click on Windows key + X (or right-click on the start button) and choose Settings from the power user menu.
- Tap Windows key + I to directly launch Windows Settings.
- Now locate Devices and click on the same to open.
- From the left panel where all the devices are listed, tap on Touchpad.
- At last, in the right panel, click on the toggle switch under Touchpad to turn it off.
Further
Also, if you would like your computer to automatically turn off the touchpad when you connect an external mouse. Then uncheck the box next to ‘Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected. When you are here in touchpad settings, scroll down further to adjust other touchpad settings like tap sensitivity, touchpad shortcuts, as well. You can also customize what actions occur whenever you swipe three-fingers and four-fingers in different directions on the touchpad too.
For the ones with a non-precision touchpad, tap on the Additional settings option found in the right-hand panel. This will open a Mouse Properties window with a greater number of customizable options concerning the trackpad actually. Switch over to the Hardware tab. Highlight/choose your touchpad by clicking on it and clicking on the Properties button that is present at the bottom of the window.
In the touchpad properties window, just tap on Change Settings under the general tab. At last, switch to the Driver tab and tap on Disable Device to turn off the touchpad on your laptop.
Turn off Touchpad via third-party applications
If none of the above-mentioned methods did the trick for you, just consider using one of the many third-party applications available on the internet. One of the more famous applications to disable touchpad in laptops is Touchpad Blocker actually. It is a free and lightweight application that actually lets you set shortcut keys to disable and enable the app. Users with a synaptic touchpad can also set a shortcut key in order to disable or enable the touchpad itself. But, the application only disables the touchpad whenever it is running in the running background (or foreground). Touchpad blocker, when running, can also be accessed from the taskbar.
Other features included in Touchpad Blocker include automatically running at startup. And blocking accidental taps and clicks, as well. To turn off the touchpad via Touchpad Blocker:
- Head over to their website Touchpad Blocker and tap on the Download button in order to start downloading the program file.
- Double-tap on the downloaded file and follow the on-screen instructions in order to install Touchpad Blocker on your system.
- When you install it, set up Touchpad Blocker according to your preference and Turn On Blocker tapping on the keyboard shortcut for the same (Fn + f9).
Another set of very famous applications worth trying are Touchfreeze and Touch Tamer. However, not as feature-rich as Touchpad Blocker, both of these applications do help get rid of those accidental palm touches users make whenever typing. They basically disable or freeze the touchpad for a short amount of time after a key on the keyboard is pressed as well.
Conclusion
Well, That is all from my side. If you want to know more about this article or have any queries. Then feel free to ask me anything in the comments section below.
Have a Good Day!
