Forum Topic

Help

I have bought a new Acer laptop and the pointer arrow is junping about all over the place it is taking twice as long to do anything. I have looked in the control panel and cannot find anthing that helps.Can anyone out there help before I go bonkers!

Mavis Walker ● 5946d24 Comments

Have you tried posting on the W4 site as Steve Bonnici is always providing useful info re computers,  he is an IT man.

Jen Morty ● 5946d

Mavis could it be the setting for your mouse speed?

Audrey Walton ● 5946d

If it is a pressure sensitive area try slightly firmer pressure. An optical mouse with LED instead of mouse ball needs a matt, not shiny, surface below.

Chris Bell ● 5946d

Do post this on W4, someone is bound to help.You don't have the touch panel thing on the front that operates the mouse activated, do you? If you use a normal mouse, you need to disable this panel, or you'll find the cursor keeps jumping to the top when your hand brushes the it. I touch-type and the cursor panel thing is always in the way.

Becky Bell ● 5946d

Could be the batteries in the mouse. You say it's a new computer but check that the batteries are securely fitted....

Kevin Regan ● 5945d

Personally I find a conventional mouse much more relaxing than a built-in trackpad/rollerball/joystick, even when reliable. To try it out, borrow a USB mouse from someone - it should start working immediately it is plugged in. If you decide to buy one, look for a "notebook mouse", which is smaller so more easily packed away.

Ian M Green ● 5945d

Hi, Curser jumping about and general slow speed could indicate you've aquired a virus. You might not notice anything else for months, if at all. Something similar happend to my partner, until one day he was checking his bank account and got a pop up asking for personal details.... It transpired the virus security on his lap top wasn't working properly and had to be reinstalled...

S Bradford ● 5945d

Sorry but I still do not know what kind of mouse or touch sensitive device you are using. I can give you a guaranteed virus-free DVD if you would like to test your hardware without writing to your hard disc, it will run Linux direct from the DVD and is used by friends who repair laptops to do their testing.

Chris Bell ● 5945d

I use the touch pad not a mouse. I have had the pc for 3 weeks now and it was slow at the beginning, I thought it was me using a different pc to my other one. I also never got on-line until this Tuesday when they finally sent a router. I have now installed the anti-virus the minute I got on line.

Mavis Walker ● 5945d

Eeer, take it back to whoever you bought it from, you might be a bit pc illiterate but they should make sure it works.....good luck

Iain Muir ● 5945d

ok it was my fault the pointer is ok, I had too many fingers on the touch pad.It was a relief to get it working as I needed to order things. Now does anyone know how I can get outlook express and msn explorer onto my computer as I cannot receive any msgs on my outlook express. I have windows seven.

Mavis Walker ● 5944d

The names of Microsoft Windows mail programs are confusing. Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, and Windows Live Hotmail are all different.I recommend you install Windows Live Mail, which is a free download from Microsoft, and can import old e-mails, contact lists etc from Outlook Express. Get someone who has already done this to assist.Others will have a different opinion. It's a matter of preference.

Ian M Green ● 5944d

Hi Mavis,you can set up a new account in outlook express by going to Tools on the menu bar at the top then Account Settings in the drop-down menu.

Mike Pickup ● 5944d

Mavis obviously needs the loan of a whizzy teenager to get her going.My 19 year old is pretty rubbish at this stuff or I would volunteer him, but there must be a poster who either can do it ever so quickly or has a child who can be sent along.

Sara Nathan ● 5944d

Sorry, I might be able to do it but I am neither a child (now on a pension) nor do I wish to have anything to do with Windows 7, I treat Microsoft like the plague.

Chris Bell ● 5944d

Sometimes when I am stuck with things like this I just 'google' really mental questions, like "why is my cursor always moving and never at the insertion point" then I will get some mental answers, eventually I hone the question down and get the answer I need.I had the same cursor problem Mavis, and partly it was caused by me hitting the touchpad with my thumbs, but it was worse than just me. I eventually solved it with a program called TouchFreeze which I downloaded free from internet.

John Pollastrini ● 5944d

Mavis, if you think your computer is slow, may I ask how many shortcuts you have on your display. The more you have the slower it becomes. Just bin the short cuts, you can still use the programmes without having shortcuts.

Dave Hughes ● 5944d

Dave, this is something that I don't understand about computers, why does it affect the speed with the shortcuts, or other programs even if your not using them?2nd Try: Why do the more programs you have on the computer slow down the performance, even if they are not being used?

John Pollastrini ● 5944d

John, when your computer is firing up and you have lots of shortcuts, it loads these as part of it's program, hence it takes longer. but if you just have the programs listed under 'All Programs' then it does not get these programs ready for use. I don't have any shortcuts at all and it is quite speedy.

Dave Hughes ● 5944d

"you can set up a new account in outlook express ..."No, Mavis can't, because Outlook Express is not available on Windows 7.  Ian's suggestion of Windows Live Mail is probably the best way to proceed for a relatively inexperienced user, as it looks very similar to Outlook Express.

Richard Jennings ● 5944d

Every shortcut takes up some RAM, and it may also initiate the program to save start-up time if and when you actually decide to use it, so the amount of free RAM available is reduced. It also adds to the initial boot delay, but I understand that Microsoft may check every available package anyway, and that the boot delay increases slightly every time it is re-started.

Chris Bell ● 5944d

The presence of shortcuts shouldn't show things down. One reason for seldom-used applications making a PC sluggish is that they often install rubbish that runs in the background. And if they are badly written they may not remove the rubbish when uninstalled.To evaluate programs, I use a version of Windows Virtual PC that runs on top of the main PC, but is isolated from it. That way, badly written or bloated programs can't mess up the main PC.

Ian M Green ● 5944d

I have now got my outlook express e-mails back by loggimg into  my isp server I had 64 e-mails to look. Trouble is after seven years with xp this new system is different and I think I prefer the old system.

Mavis Walker ● 5944d

Most of the people I speak to, including a large proportion of professionals, say exactly the same thing.Unfortunately that does not increase sales, so Microsoft are trying to stop people using XP. Dell even refuse to provide hardware drivers suitable for downgrading.Friends who repair laptops use a Knoppix Linux DVD for testing so as to avoid the time wasted finding hardware drivers. It guarantees no virus problems, boots quickly on almost any hardware, and does not need to write anything to the hard disc.

Chris Bell ● 5944d