Instead of a mouse, a laptop can use a special touch panel with buttons - a touchpad. Some manufacturers call it a trackpad. The touchpad is used to control the cursor by moving your finger across its surface. Square touchpad on laptop usually ranges from 40-60 sq. centimeters, the shape is rectangular, but sometimes it is round.
How the touchpad works 
consists of measuring the capacitance between the touch plate and your finger. Capacitive sensors are located vertically and horizontally and make it possible to determine the position of the finger with sufficient accuracy. For normal operation touchpad on laptop a certain contact area is needed, so if the touchpad is lightly touched with a finger, it will not work correctly. The touchpad will not work when controlling any non-conductive object (for example, the end of a pencil). Touchpads have rather low accuracy, only sufficient for viewing documents, web pages, and allowing you to play simple logic games. In complex graphics applications or dynamic online games, their use is difficult.
The advantages of the touchpad are:
- no need for a flat surface, like for a mouse, because touchpad on laptop itself is such a surface;
— the location of the touchpad is always fixed relative to ;
— to move the cursor across the entire screen, just a small movement of your finger is enough;
— using the touchpad, without touching the buttons, you can perform manipulations with the left mouse button:
— short touch – click the button;
- double short - double click;
— double tap without releasing with further movement – selecting or moving an object;
— the vertical bar on the right side of the touchpad and the top (bottom) bar are sometimes used for vertical and horizontal scrolling.
The touchpads of some laptops (Synaptics, Asus, Apple) can perform the functions of the right mouse button and wheel, such as:
- right-click - short touch with two (sometimes three) fingers;
- scrolling - pressing with two fingers and moving;
- swiping - touching in motion with three fingers from left to right or from right to left;
- changing the image scale - bringing two fingers together or apart on a plane.
Some typical finger movements are shown in the pictures.
See description for more details. specific model, usually included with your laptop as a user manual file.
Some laptop models may use four-finger movements.
Enabling/disabling the touchpad is usually done with the Fn key combination and or there may be a dedicated button for the touchpad (some Acer models). You can set the touchpad to turn off when you turn on your USB mouse. To do this, go to “My Computer” / “Properties” / “Device Manager” / “Mice and other pointing devices” - disable. Or another option - Start button/Control Panel/Mouse/Device Settings/Turn On/Off touchpad» — disable. There are several more specific on/off options. touchpad on laptop, but in my opinion they are unnecessary and impractical.
Each laptop is equipped with a special manipulation field called a touchpad. Essentially, this module replaces a physical mouse, which is not always possible to use. And so, by running your finger over the surface, you can easily carry out any action. We will tell you in this article what a touchpad is and how to configure it on a laptop so that working with your computer is as comfortable and efficient as possible.
How does the touchpad work?
So, externally we perceive the virtual pointer as a field with two keys, highlighted on the panel under the keyboard of our laptop. In fact, this management zone does not stand out with anything special, except for some symbols or frameworks (in some cases).
At the same time, from the very beginning of work, we understand how the touchpad functions. We also most often don’t think about how to set up smooth operation on a laptop, since after starting the computer everything functions at the proper level.
The operating logic of the device is also extremely simple - the finger that moves along its surface corresponds to the direction the cursor moves on the screen. In addition, there are other features, such as recognizing multiple touches at the same time. Getting to know them, however, is not important.
How to enable the touchpad?
Since the cursor control field is located directly below the keyboard, it is natural for the user to accidentally touch it. This is unpleasant, especially when you are watching a movie and the cursor constantly changes its location. To prevent this, a feature to disable the touchpad was developed.
This is done either using a separate button placed on the surface of the laptop, or using the Fn hot keys and the one that is responsible for the operation of the module. If you see that your touchpad does not respond to anything, and you don’t know how to turn it on, try the indicated options, one of them will definitely work. Remember that the procedure for activating a virtual mouse is the same as disabling it.
Setting up the touchpad
Most often, the touchpad works normally on a computer. As a rule, no one thinks about how to set it up on a laptop. At the same time, situations occur when the cursor does not move, and the user does not understand why this is happening. In this case you need special program for touchpad. To put it simply, we are talking about a driver that will establish “contact” between your software and coordinate their work. Let's just say that if your laptop was originally offered with operating system, which did not contain the specified drivers, they will need to be installed “from above”. This is done from the official website of the company that produced your laptop.
Other problems
Of course, there may be other reasons why the touchpad stopped working (not related to drivers). To understand the situation and install them, you need to spend more time studying. First of all, experts recommend starting with the “Properties” of a module such as “Mouse” (and in our case, this is the touchpad). How to configure its operation on a laptop is another matter: you need to go to the “Control Panel”, to the “Mouse” tab, where in the “Device Settings” submenu you can edit the settings of your virtual mouse module.
The variety of available options depends solely on how sophisticated your laptop is and, accordingly, the touchpad installed on it. For example, newer computer models have a multi-touch function (the ability to read several touches at the same time), as well as the ability to turn pages while reading using a simplified scheme. All these and other options are available in this section, you can configure them to ensure comfortable work. You can immediately determine whether the device is physically connected and whether it is accessible. Perhaps, if your touchpad does not respond to commands, this tab will describe the cause of this problem.
Alternative to a virtual mouse
Just because you have a laptop doesn't mean you have to use a touchpad. How to turn on a physical mouse is described in many instructions, despite the fact that this procedure is quite simple. All you need is to buy a mouse that you like in your own way appearance and more possibilities, as well as connect it to the USB port of a computer. Next, your pointer will either function normally without unnecessary problems, or it will require you to install an additional driver package. After this you can start working.
In fact, whether you should use a mouse or use a touchpad depends entirely on the user. This is a purely individual matter. There are different categories of operations that we carry out with our computer: normal mode use, work in online games. Each of them implies a certain set of actions that need to be performed: if a touchpad is enough to work in the browser, then playing your favorite Counter-Strike game without a mouse, of course, will be very difficult.
A touchpad is a touch pad designed to control the mouse cursor on a computer (laptop). In terms of its properties, the touchpad performs the role of an ordinary computer mouse.
The touchpad has a low resolution, which makes it difficult to work where more precise movements are needed (for example, in graphic editors), but has many advantages:
-reliability due to the absence of moving parts;
-controlling the cursor using the touchpad does not require special skills or getting used to;
-the presence of a flat surface and large space is completely unnecessary;
-a slight movement of your finger makes it possible to move the cursor around the entire screen;
-using one touchpad you can simulate pressing the left and right mouse buttons;
Touchpads are mainly installed on laptops, because... take up little space and are convenient to use. On most laptops it is located under the keyboard and is a small, flat rectangle.
Typically, touchpads are small in size and do not exceed 50 square centimeters, but there are touchpads that exceed these dimensions. Such touchpads are used in payment and information terminals, as well as in special control systems. To connect the touchpad to a computer, several interfaces are used: USB, RS-232, PS/2. Apple family computers use the ADB interface. Wireless touchpads are also available.
The principle of operation of the touchpad is based on measuring the capacitance between the built-in sensors or measuring the capacitance of the finger. The sensors are located both vertically and horizontal axes touchpad, which makes it possible to accurately determine the position of the finger and move the cursor to the right place. Because The touchpad works on the principle of measuring capacitance, then if you touch it with a non-conductive object (for example, a pen or pencil), the touchpad will not work. Also, the touchpad does not work with very small contact areas.
The touchpad is easy to use and does not require any special care. Occasionally, approximately once every six months, it is recommended to check the touchpad for accuracy of movements and if the accuracy deteriorates (movements are more abrupt or abrupt), clean the touchpad. The touchpads are very well protected from dust and moisture (including water), as well as from foreign objects getting inside the touchpad. The touchpad is very reliable and rarely breaks; it is very rare for a new touchpad to break within five years of operation.
In most cases, the touchpad does not require any special driver to operate. When you connect it to a computer, it is recognized as an ordinary “mouse”, and when using the USB interface, it can be connected and disconnected “hot”, i.e. There is no need to turn off the computer.
When purchasing a laptop, it is assumed that it will be used in various conditions where using a mouse is inconvenient and sometimes impossible (for example, on a train or in a car. Therefore, when choosing a laptop, you should pay great attention to the touchpad. Let's look at a few simple rules regarding the touchpad, which you should consider when choosing a laptop:
-The touchpad should be positioned so that you do not touch it when performing other operations (for example, when pressing buttons on the keyboard). It is usually located in the center of the keyboard under the buttons.
-The larger the size of the touchpad, the better, but it should not interfere with pressing the keyboard buttons.
-The touchpad must be protected from accidental touch. Usually it is slightly recessed into the laptop body.
-Also pay attention to the mouse control buttons. They should be comfortable and press with little effort.
