What kind of touchpad is installed on the laptop? What is a Touchpad on a laptop, phone, tablet, computer and why is it needed? How to enable Touchpad on a laptop? Touchpad
The touchpad is a century-old feature, long ago replacing the alternative mouse controls. With it we can completely control our device, be it a laptop or a hybrid tablet. Many laptops (Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Dell) have problems with the touchpad. What to do if the touchpad on a laptop does not work in Windows 10? Let's look at 5 ways to solve this problem.
1. Re-enable the touchpad using the Fn key
One story happened to me when I turned on WiFi on my laptop and accidentally turned it off touchpad touchpad For a long time I searched for the reason, without immediately realizing what had happened. It turned out to be simple, laptops have a button additional functions called Fn from the bottom left of the keyboard. To enable any function on a laptop, press the combination of the Fn and F1...F12 buttons. On these same buttons F1-F12, pictures or symbols are drawn to apply the parameter. For example, to turn on the touchpad, you need to press Fn+F7; on the F7 button itself there will be an image of something like a touchpad. You can press all the buttons in order Fn+F1...F12, but remember that there is a function to turn off the display; press again the buttons on which the screen went dark.
On some HP laptops, the touchpad is turned on and off by double-tapping the edge of the touchpad itself. Asus and acer brands may have a separate button next to the touchpad. If the touchpad still does not work, then move on.
2. Removing Other Mouse Drivers
There are times when you have had a whole bunch of drivers connected in the past from different devices mice and you never deleted them. Some drivers from mouse manufacturers automatically disable the Touchpad themselves. Go to device Manager by pressing a combination of buttons Win+R and enter in the line devmgmt.msc.
Find the line indicating mice and other pointing devices, click on the tab to expand the category and remove all mouse drivers in order until the touchpad starts working on your laptop. If it doesn't work, try rebooting the system after removing all drivers. Touchpad not working? Let's move on to the next point.
3. Update or rollback the touchpad driver
Try updating or rolling back the touchpad driver. Go to the same device manager as described above. Find the device Touchpad, usually it is called the same as the brand of laptop (Dell TouchPad, Lenovo TouchPad, Synaptics, HP TouchPad, Acer TouchPad, Asus TouchPad.) Right-click on your driver and select properties. Next, click Update to see if there are any useful updates for your touchpad.
Many people have reported on the Microsoft forums that the Touchpad stopped working after Windows updates 10, for this you need to select rollback driver. If your Rollback button is not highlighted, it means you don’t have previous version drivers.
In many cases, the device manager does not work to enable TouchPath on a laptop. If your TouchPad still does not work on a laptop in Windows 10, then go to the mouse properties.
- Dial mouse in line windows search and go to Mouse Settings.
- Click Additional options mouse, in the window that opens go Device Settings, tab Touchpad or as in the picture.
- Find your Touchpad and click "enable".
5. Disable touch screen input service for hybrid laptops
If your laptop is a hybrid (laptop and tablet in one with a touch display), there is a chance that the touch screen input service, which controls the functionality of the stylus, is interfering with your touchpad.
To disable the service press win+R then enter services.msc and in the list of services find TabletInputService or Tablet PC Input Service. Right-click on it, then disable it. A very inconvenient solution for those who use touch screen and touchpads, but you can then be smart and try to remove the drivers, roll back, update and then start the service again.
The first thing you should know is that Windows 10 was designed to be used on devices equipped with the new precision touchpads. However, at present, such panels are not yet widespread, and most laptops use conventional touchpads. Therefore, not all gestures described below will be available on your device.
You can check which touchpad is installed on your computer at the following address: “Start” → “Settings” → “Devices” → “Mouse and Touchpad”. If you have a precision touchpad, you'll see an entry for it under the Touchpad section. But even if you have a regular touchpad, don't be discouraged - many gestures will be available to you, you just need to experiment a little to find out which ones.
1. Scroll the page up or down
Place two fingers on the touchpad and swipe up or down.
2. Scroll the page right or left
Place two fingers on the touchpad and slide them horizontally in the direction you want.
3. Call the context menu
Tapping with two fingers will call context menu, which usually appears when you right-click the mouse. In some models of touch panels, the same can be achieved by tapping in the lower right corner of the touchpad.
4. Display all running applications
Swipe up with three fingers to display a panel with thumbnail images of windows. running programs(Alt + Tab). You can simply swipe left or right to switch to the desired application.
5. Closing the Window Manager Panel
This gesture is the opposite of the previous one. If you have an app switcher visible on your screen, this gesture will hide it.
6. Minimize all windows
If you have several windows open, swiping down with three fingers on the touchpad will minimize them and show the desktop.
7. Restoring minimized windows
The action is the opposite of the previous one. If you have minimized application windows to the taskbar, this gesture will restore them to their original state.
8. Switch between open windows
Swiping left or right with three fingers will allow you to sequentially switch between multiple open windows.
9. Calling the search bar
Tap with three fingers so that the Windows 10 search bar or virtual search bar appears in front of you voice assistant Cortana (in countries where this feature is available).
10. Zoom in or out
Place two fingers on the touchpad, then spread them apart or pinch them together. This gesture allows you not only to change the display scale of images in viewers and graphic editors, but also works in many browsers, allowing you to quickly resize text on a page.
As I noted above, these gestures are not supported in all configurations. But it also happens that some of them are simply disabled by the manufacturer in the touchpad driver settings. Therefore, take the time to open the device properties (“Control Panel” → “Touchpad”) and activate the functions you need.
What touchpad gestures do you use most often in Windows 10?
The touchpad is a century-old feature, long ago replacing the alternative mouse controls. With it we can completely control our device, be it a laptop or a hybrid tablet. Many laptops (Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Dell) have problems with the touchpad. What to do if the touchpad on a laptop does not work in Windows 10? Let's look at 5 ways to solve this problem.
1. Re-enable the touchpad using the Fn key
One story happened to me when I turned on WiFi on my laptop and accidentally disabled the touchpad. For a long time I searched for the reason, without immediately realizing what had happened. It turned out to be simple, laptops have an additional function button called Fn at the bottom left of the keyboard. To enable any function on a laptop, press the combination of the Fn and F1...F12 buttons. On these same buttons F1-F12, pictures or symbols are drawn to apply the parameter. For example, to turn on the touchpad, you need to press Fn+F7; on the F7 button itself there will be an image of something like a touchpad. You can press all the buttons in order Fn+F1...F12, but remember that there is a function to turn off the display; press again the buttons on which the screen went dark.
On some HP laptops, the touchpad is turned on and off by double-tapping the edge of the touchpad itself. Asus and acer brands may have a separate button next to the touchpad. If the touchpad still does not work, then move on.
2. Removing Other Mouse Drivers
There are times when you had a whole bunch of drivers connected from different mouse devices in the past and you never removed them. Some drivers from mouse manufacturers automatically disable the Touchpad themselves. Go to device Manager by pressing a combination of buttons Win+R and enter in the line devmgmt.msc.
Find the line indicating mice and other pointing devices, click on the tab to expand the category and remove all mouse drivers in order until the touchpad starts working on your laptop. If it doesn't work, try rebooting the system after removing all drivers. Touchpad not working? Let's move on to the next point.
3. Update or rollback the touchpad driver
Try updating or rolling back the touchpad driver. Go to the same device manager as described above. Find the device Touchpad, usually it is called the same as the brand of laptop (Dell TouchPad, Lenovo TouchPad, Synaptics, HP TouchPad, Acer TouchPad, Asus TouchPad.) Right-click on your driver and select properties. Next, click Update to see if there are any useful updates for your touchpad.
Many people have reported on the Microsoft forums that the Touchpad stopped working after updating Windows 10, for this you need to select rollback the driver. If your Rollback button is not highlighted, it means you do not have a previous version of the driver.
In many cases, the device manager does not work to enable TouchPath on a laptop. If your TouchPad still does not work on a laptop in Windows 10, then go to the mouse properties.
- Dial mouse in the windows search bar and go to Mouse Settings.
- Click Additional options mouse, in the window that opens go Device Settings, tab Touchpad or as in the picture.
- Find your Touchpad and click "enable".
5. Disable touch screen input service for hybrid laptops
If your laptop is a hybrid (laptop and tablet in one with a touch display), there is a chance that the touch screen input service, which controls the functionality of the stylus, is interfering with your touchpad.
To disable the service press win+R then enter services.msc and in the list of services find TabletInputService or Tablet PC Input Service. Right-click on it, then disable it. A very inconvenient solution for those who use a touch screen and touchpads, but you can then be smart and try to remove the drivers, roll back, update and then restart the service.
The touchpad, or touchpad in other words, was invented in 1988 by George Gerfeide. Then Apple licensed his project and, starting in 1994, began using it in PowerBook laptops. Since then, the touchpad has been the most common laptop control device. How it works - we’ll talk about it in today’s episode.
The touchpad is a flat touchpad containing a package of printed circuit boards. The panel most often has a rectangular shape with an area of no more than 50 square centimeters. It is located below the keyboard and is slightly recessed into the laptop body.
The touchpad is based on measuring the electrical capacitance between a finger and a sensor or between two sensors. Capacitive sensors are located along the vertical and horizontal axes of the touchpad, which allows you to determine the position of your finger with the required accuracy. The sensitive surface of the device is a grid of two layers of metal conductors, separated by a layer of thin insulating gasket made of Mylar film. Two layers of conductors act as plates, the spacer acts as a dielectric, and capacitors are formed at the intersection of perpendicular conductors. In this case, the layers are arranged in such a way that the conductors of one layer are perpendicular to the conductors of the other.
After turning on the device, an electric field is formed between the plates of the capacitor. The microcontroller applies voltage to two conductors located in different layers, measures the resistance between them and stores the measured value. It then applies voltage to two other wires located in different layers, and this repeats until the microcontroller measures and stores the resistance between each pair of wires located in different layers. The time during which the microcontroller manages to take readings from all sensors is one of the characteristics of touchpads. After this, the device goes into normal operation.
The human body is good guide. When approaching the sensitive surface, the finger changes the electric field and capacitance of the capacitors. The microcontroller measures the resistance between pairs of conductors and compares the measured values with those stored in memory. Analyzing deviations of the measured values, the microcontroller determines the coordinates of the contact point and the pressure exerted on the surface. The greater the pressure or the number of fingers applied, the greater the total capacitance of the capacitor formed by the surface of the device and the fingers. Due to the fact that the touchpad works when measuring capacity, it is impossible to use it with a pen or pencil.
It is worth noting that the capacitance of capacitors is influenced not only by fingers, but by external electric fields and other physical effects. As a result, the container constantly changes or trembles. To eliminate jitter, “filtering” algorithms are used. They smooth out sudden changes in values. The most commonly used is a simple algorithm called the "averaging window" algorithm. According to it, the value of the current coordinates is determined by averaging the last two unsmoothed values.
