How to Disable Touchpad Shortcuts

By Ryan Menezes

Users easily open touchpad shortcuts – sometimes, too easily.
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Your laptop's touchpad controls the mouse pointer, but can perform other tasks as well. The corners of the pad act as sensitive tap zones, and selecting them runs specific shortcuts. For example, a touchpad shortcut can maximize or minimize the current window. The shortcuts can also control your media player, print the open document or launch a browser. These shortcuts save you time if you know how each works, but in an office environment where people switch machines, workers who don't expect shortcuts may activate them accidentally. Disabling shortcuts prevents unintentional use.

Click the Start button. Type "mouse" into the Start menu's search box and click "Mouse" in the search results to open the Mouse Properties dialog box.

Click "Device Settings," the dialog box's last tab.

Click "Settings" to open your touchpad driver's settings.

Click "Tap Zones," which is in the sidebar under "Tapping."

Click the box labeled "Enable Tap Zones" to deselect it.

Click "OK" in both open dialog boxes.

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