Typing Issues (Jumping cursor...moves my text to another line while typing)

Since I don't use a USB mouse, I adjusted the touch settings on the touchpad, and it seems to have resolved the problem.  It was very annoying with most errors occurring with use of the y and t keys.  It's been OK since I've made these adjustments about a month ago.  I hope it will remain so!

This is a deliberate duplicate from my post at

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistawu/thread/3b935c1e-9c66-4236-93e8-b3356bfbb7c7

The reason for duplication is that Microsoft seems to think the issue is resolved – only by making a new post is it likely that they will make any further attempt to get a real answer.

I've been battling this Jumping Cursor problem for over a year - today I finally decided to google the problem - Microsoft disowns the issue, but it looks like their "windows update" may be part of the problem, but not entirely. Although now retired from the field for over ten years, from my over 20 years as a computer support rep, both in the field and on the help desk*, I've seen this finger pointing all to often, where the software folks blame the hardware folks and they, in turn, blame the software people. ("Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." - - Hanlon's Razor). Many folks here have offered solutions, (most of which I have tried without success) and it appears that no one has a real handle on a solution. What some claim works for them, others say doesn't work in their situation. I wish I could say I found a fix, but I cannot say that. I HAVE found something that seems to help though. I'll not echo what has been said describing the problem. We all know that it's a royal pain. Here's my "work-around" - - When composing text, I keep an eye on the position of the "I" beam Mouse Cursor, to insure it stays inside the text area. Then, I also keep an eye out to be sure the letters I am typing appear on the screen in the right place. (If you are not a "touch typist" - Rots-a-Ruck!) I tried the fix, below, and had some modest improvement - enough to make it tolerable - - until I can afford a Mack. What appears to be happening is that the windows automatic update may be inadvertently changing some settings in the touch pad / mouse options. In the case of brand new machines, these may be the default settings. This does not seem to be related to any particular Operating System or computer manufacturer. It DOES appear to be restricted to computers that use a touchpad. Apparently most computer manufacturers use the same bit of hardware - quite possibly from the same source. (Very common - why reinvent the wheel?) It seems the touch pad is too sensitive and may cause the cursor to move around just from vibrations caused by typing - the faster / harder the typing, the greater odds that the cursor will move unbidden. (My laptop is ancient, I've literally worn through some of the keys and have had to put bubbles of epoxy on them to cover the holes.) Then when lint and hair (and breadcrumbs, etc - grin) build up under the keys, one types progressively harder to get the keys to work! This increases the vibration level. Anyway, to obtain some relief, I went to mouse properties in control panel and took all the check marks out of Pointer Options (I'll put those I want back, one at a time - over time - to see if I can narrow down the actual culprit). I then went to Device Settings and selected "Static tray icon in the taskbar" (the animation may degrade system performance just a tad and possibly be part of the problem). I then right clicked the Snaptics icon in the system tray and removed the check from "Tap to Click" - I then returned to mouse properties, device settings, and selected "Remove tray icon from taskbar" (it needs to be there to right click it - DUH!- Windows XP Home, SP3, no other way)- - I then slowed down the pointer speed. Although these measures helped a great deal, it seems theydid not totally resolve the issue. (and yes, all my drivers "seem" to be current.) Now, for those suffering as much frustration as I am - I taped a piece of scrap metal over the touch pad, hinge fashion, to ensure I wasn't "palming" the pad as I type. No fix. Obviously, turning the pad completely off is not an option with a laptop. After all, with the device on your lap, where are you going to place the mouse to USE it? On your chest? - Definitely NOT for the ladies! grin - On your thigh? UH, that looks bad, too, even for the guys. In addition, carrying a mouse around with a laptop LOOKS funny! I'm afraid that for some of us, we are just screwed, until Microsoft and Snaptics decide to get together and actually resolve the issue. * I was on the Packard Bell help desk for over 5 years, before they got fed up with the US political corruption and moved to Europe. (Which is why you don't see PB computers in the US market today.) I was one of over 2,000 (laid off) support technicians who largely answered questions and did trouble shooting from scripts. We were alternately under great pressure to "move on to the next call as quickly as possible" when sales were up, and, when business was slow, to "Do everything you can to solve the problem on the first call". In the former situation, there was a lot of pressure to give the caller some quick fix, terminate the call, and let the NEXT technician try to solve the problem if the same person called back. This seems to be the attitude of Microsoft today - shove the problem under the rug and hope it will go away. Thanks to all who contributed - good luck to those who are still living with the problem. Gabby Jim I have same problem and I have NO TOUCH PAD, when I sign onto home page ( google) I am typing where I want to search in search bar when cursor jumps to bottom of page, it is aggrevating the **** out of me, maybe google issue???????

I did the same adjustments which I came upon just by luck.  I tried several things and adjusting the touch settings on the touchpad seem to have resolved the issue for the past 1 1/2 months.  I was also having problems with the y and t keys.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

thanks for your info.  I made some adjustments to the touchpad settings and this seems to have helped. I don't use an USB mouse.  I'll keep you info handy in case this comes up again.  And, yes, it drove me mad!!!!!