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How do I change my Dell Touchpad settings and preferences?

I have a nice new Dell laptop but am a bit frustrated by one thing: it's the first computer I've owned where if I accidentally tap or touch the trackpad surface the computer thinks it's a mouse click. Messes me up left and right. How can I disable this "tap to click" behavior on the Dell trackpad (touchpad? whatever)? Oh, and it's running Windows Vista, if that matters.

Dave's Answer:

I'm not sure when that started to be popular, but just about all trackpads now seem to have the ability to detect taps in addition to sliding fingers, so it's quite common now to find computers - Mac and PC - that have the capability you're talking about. Heck, on the latest Apple MacBook line, there's no button at all: the trackpad is both the dragging and tapping surface. Definitely something you have to get used to, but once you do, it's pretty cool.

So my first thought is that this might be a behavior that you just need to train yourself to work with rather than disable, so as you hop from laptop to laptop in future years you'll be ready for the potential elimination of "mouse" buttons. I can't say for sure that'll happen in the PC world, but I certainly don't expect any future Apple laptops to have discrete buttons to push for button behaviors in the operating system.

Don't want to do that? That's okay. As is typical in Vista, there's a way to tweak what you want, but it involves a couple of steps...

First off, choose Control Panels off the START (uh, Vista logo) menu on the lower left of your computer screen:

You'll now see the many, many different ways you can customize your Vista experience. You want "Mouse" settings (why there's no "Mouse / Touchpad" or similar I don't fully understand, just as it's puzzling that there are Tablet options when my laptop isn't a tablet and doesn't support that functionality. That's another story, though). You'll be dropped here:

vista trackpad touchpad mouse properties buttons

Not really what you want, but we're getting there. Click on "Dell Touchpad" on the top left and you'll find that this is all just an elaborate path to get to the special Dell trackpad/touchpad control app:

vista trackpad mouse properties dell touchpad

Click on the huge arrow icon and you'll launch a separate application supplied by Dell that lets you gain complete control over the touchpad:

vista dell touchpad preferences customization

Almost there. Now click on "Touchpad Settings".

There we go. Finally. See where it shows "Taps" "Tap to Click"? Just uncheck that box and click on "Apply" on the lower right and you've disabled the tap to click capability of your Dell trackpad. Close the windows and you're done.

I'll wrap up by suggesting again, however, that you try to get used to the feature now so you don't fall further and further behind as PCs evolve with their user input devices. Good luck either way, though!

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Categorized: Windows Help (Article 8915)
Tagged: dell laptops, dell trackpad, vista customization, windows vista
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Comments

It might be good to know that before you can get to the Mouse settings dialog, you need to first (at the Control Panel) click on the Hardware and Sound subsection.

Posted by: Itamar at June 2, 2009 5:43 PM

I was actually wondering how to disable the wheel myself, since I don't use it. Nice article.

Posted by: Daquan Wright at June 6, 2009 12:26 AM

I inadvertantly sent you an email due to the very problem you discuss above regarding the Dell touchpad but one that resides in the Vista version of Windows but not the one I need which is on the Windows XP touchpad (from my hardware invoice is an Alps Touchpad.)

I fououd the Alps driver on my hardrive somewhere in my sound schemes. I know it didn't belong as a sound scheme (the place where you can label a name for your personalized settings if you have extra speakers, etc. The folder that I found is labeled "Apoint". In it are about 21 files that belong somewhere on my computer associated with the mouse driver that only contains one PS2 driver that I don't have. It won't allow me to adjust the sensitivity of the touchpad, the "up/down" areas of the touchpad and the corners which can be set for certain special functions as well. I tracked down the Alps Company and found out that they only supply hardware and found out that the software is designed for their products "elsewhere" (where is the question).

As long as I did manage to find the Apoint folder (and copied it to another place on my hard drive where I know it won't get lost, I would really appreciate it if you could help those of us who are still using Windows XP (not everyone can afford a new wireless laptop) to copy the file to the place where it should reside in order for the Touchpad to be accessed for the settings it was designed to utilize.

By the way, this is my seond email to you on this topic as the first one was sent before I finished it because of the Touchpad's sensitivity.

Perviously, I was working with my Attorney since my Mother passed away last October when somehow my eails were being either sent before I had a chance to edit them down to a concise amount of words or at least 2 or sometimes 3 copies of the same email was sent to my Attorney (at $450/hr.) and I am still trying to catch up to pay for all of the emails that were sent and read by his secretary. I had to stop emailing him and now without any record of what I said or what he said, we are not corresponding.

Unfortunately, I have chronic pain (24/7) and I am also am homebound most of the time unless I have a doctor's appointment. I need a recommendation to get my touchpad working or perhaps someonee to donate a wireless laptop that will work with a Networked Windows XP Dell Dimenson 8200 which needs to be updated with my Windows SP2 and after that, SP3. Due to my illness, I stopped being able to get my hardrive backed up (which still needs to be done which (in part) had to do with Norton Internet Security.

Since I am almost totally self-taught beginning with DOS at lawfirm that wasn't networked.

Everything else I learned was either coached over the phone by a great Tech Support guy at Packard Bell by the name of Shaun Hoadley who I think is now selling his first edition published prints on ebay. My first home computer was a 480 MB hard drive PB with Windows 3.0 which morphed into Windows for Workgroups (Windows 3.3).

I am not fond of what has happened through the years with Microsoft, but I haven't the funds to buy a Mack or learn another way of figuring out a new system (I am a senior citizen as of this year) and the medication I take for pain makes it difficult to retain all of the facts I need to just keep up with what is going on since yesterday with my computer (I'm still trying to figure out how to set up a Network so it will communicate with my Dell Dimension 8200 Desktop
which is even older than this laptop.}

If it weren't for the proliforation of Microsoft based machines and the use of WordPerfect (whichc was preferable) or Word at virtually all Law Firms, I would have probably started off with a Mack since my interests are mostly creative in nature.

As I said before, anything you can do to help me adjust my Windows XP Alps Touchpad (circa 2005) in my Dell Dimension 6000 wireless laptop, I would appreciate your advice.

I have information about the driver which resides in the folder (as part of the "Apont" driver file)
if you need it. I typed up some of the information in my previous email to you regarding this issue which I believe was sent to you under the option "other" -- something like "nothing applies" -- am having a senior moment. I will sign off and hopefully be able to preview and click my Touchpad only once in order to get this to you!

Thank you for your site. I hope this signs me up!

Posted by: Marsha Benson at June 23, 2009 8:06 AM

hiya,

i have a new dell studio laptop and i am envious of the 2 finger scrolling that my mac-using friends have. Is there a way to modify this by installing some software or something to be able to have 2 finger scrolling on my dell?

thanks,
Anna

Posted by: Anna at June 30, 2009 9:06 PM

The Dell Touchpad option does not appear in the Mouse control panel on my Latitude D820. So the above instructions are pretty much useless. What now?

Posted by: Maria at August 14, 2009 5:29 PM

Marsha,

Thank you for informing me that Apoint.exe is the vital software which controls my Dell touchpad.

Thanks,

Sam.

Posted by: Samuel Ryall at October 20, 2009 1:58 PM

I have a lot to say, but ...

I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!