Instead of a mouse in a laptop, a special Touchpad with buttons - touchpad. Some manufacturers call it a trackpad. The touchpad is used to control the cursor by moving your finger along its surface. Square touchpad on laptop is usually in the range of 40-60 sq. centimeters, the shape is rectangular, but sometimes it is round.

How the touchpad works is to measure the capacitance between the sensor plate and the 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 you need a certain area of ​​contact, so if the touchpad is touched lightly with your finger, it will not work correctly. The touchpad will also not work when operating any non-conductive object (for example, the end of a pencil). Touchpads have a rather low accuracy, sufficient only for viewing documents, web pages, and allow 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 is itself such a surface;

- the location of the touchpad is always fixed relative to ;

- to move the cursor across the entire screen, a small movement of the 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 touch without releasing with further movement - selection or movement of an object;

- the vertical bar on the right of the touchpad and the top (bottom) bar are sometimes used for vertical and horizontal scrolling.

Some laptop touchpads (Synaptics, Asus, Apple) can perform right mouse button and wheel functions such as:

- right-click - a short touch with two (sometimes three) fingers;

- scrolling - pressing with two fingers and moving;

- flipping - touch in motion with three fingers from left to right or right to left;

- change the scale of the image - bringing together or spreading two fingers on a plane.

Some typical finger movements are shown in the figures.

See description for details specific model, usually included with the laptop as a user manual file.

Some laptop models may use four-finger gestures.

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 the 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 / Enable/Disable Touchpad - Disable. There are several more specific options for turning on and off. touchpad on laptop, but in my opinion they are redundant and impractical.

Each laptop is equipped with a special field for manipulation, which is called a touchpad. In fact, this module replaces a physical mouse, which is not always possible to use. And so, by swiping your finger over the surface, you can easily carry out any action. We will talk about what a touchpad is, how to set it up on a laptop in such a way that working with your computer is as comfortable and efficient as possible, in this article.

How is the touchpad?

So, outwardly, we perceive the virtual pointer as a field with two keys, highlighted on the panel under the keyboard of our laptop. In fact, this control zone is not distinguished by anything special, except for some symbols or frames (in some cases).

At the same time, from the very beginning of work, we understand how the touchpad functions. We also most often do not think about how to set up its coordinated work on a laptop, because after starting the computer everything functions at the proper level.

The logic of the device is also extremely simple - the finger that moves along its surface corresponds to the direction of the cursor on the screen. In addition, there are other possibilities, such as recognition of multiple touches at the same time. Getting to know them, however, is not essential.

How to enable touchpad?

Since the cursor control field is located directly below the keyboard, it is natural for the user to touch it accidentally. 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 has been 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 react to anything, 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.

Touchpad settings

Most often, the touchpad works normally on a computer. As a rule, no one thinks how to set it up on a laptop. In this case, there are situations when the cursor does not move, and the user does not understand why this is happening. In this case, you need a special program for the touchpad. To put it simply, we are talking about a driver that will establish a “contact” between your software and coordinating 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 released 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 a 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 you can edit the settings of your virtual mouse module in the "Device Settings" submenu.

The variety of available options depends solely on how “fancy” your laptop is and, accordingly, the touchpad installed on it. For example, on newer models of computers there is a "multi-touch" function (the ability to read several touches at the same time), as well as the ability to turn pages while reading according to a simplified scheme. All these and other options are available in this section, you can customize them to ensure comfortable work. Here you can also determine whether the device is physically connected and whether it is available. Perhaps, if your touchpad is not responding to commands, this tab will describe the cause of this problem.

An 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 get a mouse that you like in your own way. appearance and more features, as well as connect it to a computer's USB port. Further, your pointer will either function normally without any problems, or it will require you to install an additional driver package. After that, you can get to work.

In fact, whether it is worth using a mouse, or you can get by with a touchpad, depends solely on the user himself. This is a purely individual matter. There are different categories of operations that we carry out with our computer: normal use, work in online games. Each of them implies a certain set of actions that need to be performed: if the 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). By 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 it has many advantages:
-reliability due to the absence of moving parts;
- cursor control using the touchpad does not require special skills and getting used to;
- the presence of a flat surface and large space completely unnecessary;
-small movement of the finger makes it possible to move the cursor around the screen;
-using one touchpad, you can simulate pressing the left and right button mice;

Touchpads are mainly installed on laptops, because. take up little space and are easy to use. On most laptops, it is located under the keyboard and is a small, flat rectangle.

Typically, touchpads are small 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. Several interfaces are used to connect the touchpad to a computer: USB, RS-232, PS/2. Apple computers use the ADB interface. There are also wireless touchpads.

The principle of operation of the touchpad is based on measuring the capacitance between the built-in sensors or measuring the capacitance of a finger. Sensors are located on both the vertical and horizontal axes of the 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 capacitance measurement, then when 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 areas of contact.

The touchpad is not whimsical in work and does not require any special care. Occasionally, about once every six months, it is recommended to check the touchpad for accuracy of movements and if the accuracy deteriorates (movements are more jerky 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, very rarely there are cases of breakage within five years of a new touchpad.

In most cases, the touchpad does not require any special driver to work. When connected 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. shutdown of the computer is not required.

When buying a laptop, it is assumed that it will be used in various environments 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, Things to consider when choosing a laptop:
-The touchpad must be located so that you do not touch it when performing other operations (for example, when pressing the buttons on the keyboard). It is usually located in the center of the keyboard below the buttons.
-The larger the touchpad, the better, but it should not get in the way when pressing the keyboard buttons.
- The touchpad must be protected from accidental touch. Usually it is slightly recessed into the laptop case.
-Also pay attention to the mouse control buttons. They should be comfortable and pressed with little effort.