Jumpy Cursor -- what to do
I have a jumpy cursor. While I viewed this as a slight personal problem, it's becoming more annoying.
I have a G3 iBook 700 with OS 10.2. I recently put on a Kensington Pocketmouse SE but seemed to be having this problem with the track pad as well.
The cursor, when it reaches the edge of the computer screen sometimes "jump" to another location off screen. It's quite annoying.
It's been a long time since I've posted here and I've not regretted my switch to a Mac a year ago. This group has was quite helpful before I was making the jump.
Any help at this time is appreciated.
I have a G3 iBook 700 with OS 10.2. I recently put on a Kensington Pocketmouse SE but seemed to be having this problem with the track pad as well.
The cursor, when it reaches the edge of the computer screen sometimes "jump" to another location off screen. It's quite annoying.
It's been a long time since I've posted here and I've not regretted my switch to a Mac a year ago. This group has was quite helpful before I was making the jump.
Any help at this time is appreciated.
Comments
Greg
Be conscious of what I call "sleepy thumb". Sometimes after typing and then switching to a mouse on my iBook, my left thumb lays down a bit and taps the left edge of the trackpad, which makes the cursor jump to "there". But it's very subtle. The slightest tap of a finger will make the cursor move and if you are also using the mouse at the same time it'll hop madly.
I wish there was a trackpad off switch sometimes (although I love trackpads usually)
Thumbs can tap the top of the trackpad too, while over the space bar.
Another thing is they are sensitive to moisture. if you open a can of Coke, the condensation on your fingers will get on the track pad and then the cursor will leap around thinking drops/smears of water are taps.
Also avoid cleaning the trackpad while it's on, not so much for the obvious reason that it will make the cursor go wild but if its off there is no charge. When you use something wet to clean it it will kinda short it out until the liquid dries. Be sure to NOT use anything but a slightly damp cloth. Using rubbing alchohol will make you lose the ability to use the trackpad for about 30 minutes or worse and it'll be jumpy prior to that.
Originally posted by johnq
I wish there was a trackpad off switch sometimes (although I love trackpads usually)
Go to the Keyboard/Mouse Pref Pane and click on the trackpad tab. There is a checkbox for "Ignore Trackpad When Mouse Is Present"
Originally posted by VanDeWaals
Go to the Keyboard/Mouse Pref Pane and click on the trackpad tab. There is a checkbox for "Ignore Trackpad When Mouse Is Present"
But that doesn't actually DO anything. I've tried. Sometimes I miss the small, inset trackpads from the PowerBook G3s, but I don't own a laptop anymore so I don't care that much. My iBook's trackpad was okay anyway.
This happened to me once and nothing short of a restart fixed it. Try that, the problem might go away.
I eventually had to take the mouse back for a refund.
For some reason, resizing or moving windows around were REALLY jumpy/laggy. I put it down to something to do with wireless at the time...
Therefore, there seems to be something else going on.
Actually, I was having this problem before the mouse was installed and was hoping that the mouse would put an end to it. I wasn't convinced that it was "lazy thumb" but I was willing to see if the mouse fixed the problem.
It has not.
So, is a "jumpy cursor" a problem that several Mac versions have had? I would think it would be a software problem that could be easily fixed.