Strange Little Problem w/ Vista's Screens

[SB]

On a new Toshiba notebook Satellite A135 w/ Vista once in a while a
simple movement of a finger on the touch pad will cause the current
screen to minimize to the task bar regardless of where the cursor may be
at the time. I've tried to re-create the problem by moving around on
the touch pad and clicking on screens etc, but it only does it when IT
wants to.

While not a gamer, I fooled around with one of the on-board games called
Mahjong. while playing the game the screen will minimize (smaller) and
a few mintues later maximize and this happens perhaps 4-5 times over
the course of the game. In this instance it does not minimize to the
task bar, it just gets smaller and then jumps up maximized again.

I noticed last time I did the Windows update that there was a Synaptics
update for the touch pad. W/o researching that I just hoped that would
fix it. I've also found nothing pertinent at the Toshiba forums. I tend
to believe it may not be a problem w/ the touch pad but rather w/ Vista.

Is this a problem that occurs with others? Any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks group.

-SB

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

The only way I have found to troubleshoot issues with a touchpad is to
remove all of the "tap to click, zones" and other options for the device.
The only thing you should have left is a basic, left/right button click and
normal movement. Then test to see if the problem behavior is still present.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Afphys

This is from a review of a new Toshiba laptop.

"A new programmable Dual Mode touchpad feature.
You can create custom tap zones in each corner to open the start menu,
maximize and minimize the current application, or run a program of your
choosing. Horizontal and vertical scrolling is also supported. We liked
having the ability to control most of the desktop from the touchpad, but it
took some getting used to. You'll have to keep an eye on where you're
tapping, or you may end up opening programs accidentally, or minimizing and
maximizing the screen, as we did the first few times we used it."

You need to go to Control panel and open the settings for the touchpad.
Check to see which options are set to 'Minimize' 'Maximize' or 'Restore
Down'.

If you are having the same problem as the original poster, this is the
restore down feature that you are seeiong and not 'minimize'. You get the
same effect when you click the center button at the top right of any
application.

This has been reported on systems using XP, Vista, Ubuntu and several other
operating systems. It's a touchpad problem.