Utilities Software

Adjust the Overall Touch Sensitivity

You can control how much finger pressure you must apply before the TouchPad responds by adjusting the Touch Sensitivity slider. This slider is located on the Touch Properties Page in the Mouse Properties dialog.

At higher (more sensitive) Touch Sensitivity settings, the TouchPad recognizes even a very slight touch. If you see undesired or erratic pointer motion, try a lower setting. Lower (less sensitive) settings require a firmer touch to move the pointer. In general, a lighter touch works best.

Customize Buttons and Taps

Most TouchPads come with two buttons that work just like traditional mouse buttons. You can customize the behavior of these buttons.

Tapping on the TouchPad surface also performs the same action as pressing a button. Tapping in the center of the pad will always produce a left-click (the action of the primary button), but you can configure each of the four corners of the TouchPad surface to act as different buttons. These special corner regions are called tap zones . With four corner tap zones, the center of the TouchPad, and the two physical buttons you can turn your TouchPad into a seven-button mouse!

A customization example:

Suppose you want to use your TouchPad like a three-button mouse. You can configure the left TouchPad button to produce middle clicks when pressed. Remember that tapping on the TouchPad will produce left clicks, and pressing the right TouchPad button will produce right clicks. For additional convenience, you can configure the top right corner tap zone of the TouchPad to produce right clicks. Looking at the TouchPad surface in the picture below, taps in the top right corner (the red shaded area) will produce right clicks, but tapping anywhere else on the TouchPad (the solid gray area) produces left clicks.

An Example TouchPad

There are many different actions that you can assign to the buttons and tap zones. The following actions are provided as built-in features with the Synaptics TouchPad device driver. Additional actions might be available if you have installed any third-party TouchPad Plug-In software.

•Jump to the Start Button. This action causes the pointer to jump to the Start button in the Windows task bar and automatically opens the Start Menu.

•Jump to the current application’s menu. This action causes the pointer to jump to the left-most entry in the application’s window menu (usually the File menu) and automatically pops up the submenu.

•Minimize the current application. This action minimizes the current application’s window. If the current application’s window is already minimized, this action will restore it to its normal size and location.

•Maximize the current application. This action maximizes the current application’s window (expands it to cover the full screen). If the current application’s window is already maximized, this action will restore it to its normal size and location.

•Run a program of your choosing. This action allows you to specify the name of any program you want to run automatically when you click the button or tap in the tap zone.

To customize taps and buttons, go to the Button Actions Properties Page in the Mouse Properties dialog.

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