How to Fix a Jumping Cursor on an Acer Computer
By Mike Venture
Sometimes when you're typing, your cursor seems to jump to another text field for no reason. This is usually caused by the computer's touchpad interpreting accidental contact, such as a brush from your palm or thumb, as a click. It's frustrating when this happens, and it can destroy you or your employees' typing efficiency as well as introduce costly errors into your documents and correspondence. Acer computers have one of two different types of touchpads, but both offer a way to prevent cursor jumps.
Alps Touchpad
Click the Start button, then type "mouse" without quotation marks and press "Enter." The Mouse Properties window opens.
Click the "Tapping" tab.
Click to put a check mark in the box labeled "Tap Off When Typing." This will disable the touchpad's tap-to-click feature while you are typing.
Click "OK."
Synaptics Touchpad
Click the Start button, then type "mouse" without quotation marks and press "Enter." The Mouse Properties window opens.
Click the "Device Settings" tab.
Click the item labeled "Synaptics TouchPad," then click "Settings." The Synaptics TouchPad Settings window opens.
Click "Pointing," then "Sensitivity" and finally "PalmCheck" in the left pane.
Drag the PalmCheck slider all the way to the right to decrease the touchpad's sensitivity to clicks while typing.
Click "OK."
Tips
While accidental touchpad taps are the most likely cause of cursor jumps on an Acer computer, you can also try re-installing your mouse drivers according to Acer's instructions for your model (see the link in Resources) or cleaning the underside of the mouse if you're using a USB mouse instead of a touchpad.
References
Writer Bio
Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., Mike Venture has been writing since 2005. He has written for the RAND Corporation, Sterling & Ross Publishers and Metropol Literary Agency. He has also worked as a technical writer at several software start-ups. Venture holds a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing from the University of Pittsburgh.