Losing control of the cursor

[John Pollard]

I have a Dell Inspiron 8500 laptop. Recently had a Symantec
tech-support person "fix" a NAV problem on the laptop using one
of those remote login pieces of software. The original problem
seems to be fixed, but now I can not keep control of the cursor.

At random times, the cursor becomes disengaged from the touchpad
(or usb mouse), and drifts off the screen. Nothing done with
the touchpad or mouse will get control of the cursor. Sometimes
the cursor can be moved partway back in view on the screen, but
it then quickly moves off the screen again. Left clicking
usually displays the Start menu, left clicking again closes the
Start menu. Right clicking usually does nothing.

If I wait 2 to 5 minutes, I can usually regain control of the
cursor with the touchpad or mouse.

Needless to say, this make using the pc nearly impossible.

I do not see any options in the Control Panel, Mouse Properties
that look like they would pertain. When I click the
"Troubleshoot" button on the Hardware tab there, I'm told the
"Alps Touch Pad" is working properly.

Is this the correct forum to ask if anyone knows what might be
the cause of, and the fix for, my problem? If not, can you
direct me?

Thank you.

 

[Ronaldo]

Install a "Synaptics driver" to solve evident touchpad-mouse conflict.
http://www.synaptics.com/support/index.cfm

 

[Plato]

I have a Dell Inspiron 8500 laptop. Recently had a Symantec
tech-support person "fix" a NAV problem on the laptop using one
of those remote login pieces of software. The original problem
seems to be fixed, but now I can not keep control of the cursor.

Remove any Symatec apps ASAP:
http://www.bootdisk.com/helpdesk.htm

 

[John Pollard]

I have a Dell Inspiron 8500 laptop. Recently had a Symantec
tech-support person "fix" a NAV problem on the laptop using
one
of those remote login pieces of software. The original
problem
seems to be fixed, but now I can not keep control of the
cursor.

At random times, the cursor becomes disengaged from the
touchpad
(or usb mouse), and drifts off the screen. Nothing done with
the touchpad or mouse will get control of the cursor.
Sometimes
the cursor can be moved partway back in view on the screen,
but
it then quickly moves off the screen again. Left clicking
usually displays the Start menu, left clicking again closes
the
Start menu. Right clicking usually does nothing.

If I wait 2 to 5 minutes, I can usually regain control of the
cursor with the touchpad or mouse.

Needless to say, this make using the pc nearly impossible.

I do not see any options in the Control Panel, Mouse
Properties
that look like they would pertain. When I click the
"Troubleshoot" button on the Hardware tab there, I'm told the
"Alps Touch Pad" is working properly.

For anyone interested: the solution was to reinstall the mouse
driver (and I chose to get a newer version), and disable the
pointing stick.

And it is a real pain to do this when you can only control the
cursor for about 30 seconds out of every 2 to 5 minutes (or
more).

I had to disable the pointing stick for this same reason several
years ago, but had forgotten about it. And when I looked at the
mouse driver that was running this time, there was no way to
disable the pointing stick ... the tab that allows that was
missing from the driver dialog. I have no idea how that
happened. Installing the new mouse driver, restored the tab
that permits enabling/disabling the pointing stick.

I do still suspect that some combination of the installation of
NAV, (and the Flash Player it wanted installed), coupled with
the Symantec tech person logging on remotely, triggered this
problem, as it only started right after I got back control of
the laptop from the Symantec tech person.