Laptop issues!

[Big Johnny69]

We just got a new laptop at work yesterday. For some reason this one is much slower than the previous one when it comes to anything related to the internet. But that's not the most annoying problem. With this new one, when I type a reply to a thread sometimes while typing the cursor jumps to the text I have already finished typing. Big pain when you have to stop typing, go back over what you have already typed and delete anything that shouldn't be there and put the text back to the way it was. Anyone know what could be causing this?

[Hank Hill]

With this new one, when I type a reply to a thread sometimes while typing the cursor jumps to the text I have already finished typing. Big pain when you have to stop typing, go back over what you have already typed and delete anything that shouldn't be there and put the text back to the way it was. Anyone know what could be causing this?

My Toshiba does that from time to time, I have no idea why so i'll be watching this thread with interest.

[AndrewMGA]

Does the laptop have a touchpad? Mine does and that happens to my wife all the time when she uses it. Some of the touchpads are ultra sensitive and if you brush it with your hands while typing it will move the cursor on you. If you use a regular mouse with your laptop, you can turn the touchpad off, otherwise you just have to get used to typing a little different to avoid it.

[jmr73]

Just a hunch...

By default, the touch-pad is setup with hotspots where if you tap it will double-click (or do other things) such as select text or a whole line of text. I find it can be pretty sensitive. My guess is you are touching one of the corners of the touchpad and the computer is reading this as a tap.

[Big Johnny69]

Does the laptop have a touchpad? Mine does and that happens to my wife all the time when she uses it. Some of the touchpads are ultra sensitive and if you brush it with your hands while typing it will move the cursor on you. If you use a regular mouse with your laptop, you can turn the touchpad off, otherwise you just have to get used to typing a little different to avoid it.

Just a hunch...

By default, the touch-pad is setup with hotspots where if you tap it will double-click (or do other things) such as select text or a whole line of text. I find it can be pretty sensitive. My guess is you are touching one of the corners of the touchpad and the computer is reading this as a tap.

You guys could be right, the touchpad is right there. Where would you go to shut it off?

A couple of other little things that have popped up this morning:

1) Even though I click the "Remember Me" box when I log in, if I close the internet window I have to log in again, and the sites I've visited are not in the drop down menu of sites visited. Both get cleared everytime I close the internet window.

2) And even though I click the "Don't show this dialogue box again" everytime I get a prompt, they still show up everytime.

3) And I've saved the best for last. Every now and then this box titled "services.exe Application Error" shows up. This is what is in the box:

The instruction at "0x606cbaec" referenced memory at "0x02b50328". The memory could not be "read".

Click OK to terminate the program.
Click Cancel to debug the program.


So when I click OK, the laptop shuts down and starts back up again.
And I decided to click Cancel once as well, when I do that, the laptop becomes useless. I can't open anything. And what I do have open, I can no longer browse sights or work with any programs. I can close what I had open, but nothing will open. So I then have to restart the laptop.

Right about now I'm wishing for our old one back.

[Hacker]

Geoff - for the first two you'll need to enable cookies in IE. That should fix those up for good......

[Golfer_Gofer]

laptops are probably the worst computers out there... they often have huge software problems.

The comments regarding the touchpad are all bang on. They are ultra sensitve to any touch... the pad of your palm at the base of the thumb is usually the culprit... learn to type with your hands in the air. Toshibas are the worst because as jmr mentioned they have hot spots for double clicks in the top corners.

my suggestion would be to find the box it came in...wrap it up in there... take it back to the store... then go out and buy a non-oem desktop computer which has been built and tested by a human.....most laptops will never be turned on by a human.... dont even get me started on this laptop thing... piles of crap if u ask me.

seriously though if you google the error messages you're getting you can often find patches to solve your problem.

[Golfer_Gofer]

- double post (must have been a laptops fault...somehow)

[Hacker]

Here is the procedure to do so:

To change your privacy settings

1. In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
2. On the Privacy tab, move the slider up for a higher level of privacy or down for a lower level of privacy.

Select this	To specify this
Block all cookies	Cookies from all Web sites will be blocked Existing cookies on your computer cannot be read by Web sites
High	Cookies from all Web sites that do not have a compact policy (a condensed computer-readable privacy statement) will be blocked Cookies from all Web sites that use your personally identifiable information without your explicit consent will be blocked
Medium High	Cookies from third-party Web sites that do not have a compact policy (a condensed computer-readable privacy statement) will be blocked Cookies from third-party Web sites that use your personally identifiable information without your explicit consent will be blocked Cookies from first-party Web sites that use your personally identifiable information without your implicit consent will be blocked
Medium	Cookies from third-party Web sites that do not have a compact policy (a condensed computer-readable privacy statement) will be blocked Cookies from third-party Web sites that use your personally identifiable information without your implicit consent will be blocked Cookies from first-party Web sites that use your personally identifiable information without your implicit consent will be deleted from your computer when you close Internet Explorer
Low	Cookies from third-party Web sites that do not have a compact policy (a condensed computer-readable privacy statement) will be blocked Cookies from third-party Web sites that use your personally identifiable information without your implicit consent will be deleted from your computer when you close Internet Explorer
Accept all cookies	All cookies will be saved on your computer Existing cookies on your computer can be read by the Web sites that created them

[AndrewMGA]

You guys could be right, the touchpad is right there. Where would you go to shut it off?

A couple of other little things that have popped up this morning:

1) Even though I click the "Remember Me" box when I log in, if I close the internet window I have to log in again, and the sites I've visited are not in the drop down menu of sites visited. Both get cleared everytime I close the internet window.

2) And even though I click the "Don't show this dialogue box again" everytime I get a prompt, they still show up everytime.

3) And I've saved the best for last. Every now and then this box titled "services.exe Application Error" shows up. This is what is in the box:

The instruction at "0x606cbaec" referenced memory at "0x02b50328". The memory could not be "read".

Click OK to terminate the program.
Click Cancel to debug the program.


So when I click OK, the laptop shuts down and starts back up again.
And I decided to click Cancel once as well, when I do that, the laptop becomes useless. I can't open anything. And what I do have open, I can no longer browse sights or work with any programs. I can close what I had open, but nothing will open. So I then have to restart the laptop.

Right about now I'm wishing for our old one back.

You normally have to go into the BIOS to turn the pad off.

Issues 1 & 2 sound like they have the security set realy high on the laptop.
Go into your browser settings and check your privacy settings, setting that to medium should fix the 'remember me' issue. Not sure how to fix the "Don't show this dialogue box again", it must be something set in the computer security policy to cause that.

Number 3 is ugly, if you have an IT people at work bring it to them and get them to sort it out, that error could be caused by anything.

[Hacker]

laptops are probably the worst computers out there... they often have huge software problems.

The comments regarding the touchpad are all bang on. They are ultra sensitve to any touch... the pad of your palm at the base of the thumb is usually the culprit... learn to type with your hands in the air. Toshibas are the worst because as jmr mentioned they have hot spots for double clicks in the top corners.

my suggestion would be to find the box it came in...wrap it up in there... take it back to the store... then go out and buy a non-oem desktop computer which has been built and tested by a human.....most laptops will never be turned on by a human.... dont even get me started on this laptop thing... piles of crap if u ask me.

seriously though if you google the error messages you're getting you can often find patches to solve your problem.

Don't forget to add IMO

I have a fleet of toshiba laptops at work (and have had various Toshiba models for over 10 years now) and they have all worked wonderfully.

Like any Brand Name PC (Laptop or Desktop) they will come with their own 'special' software and in some cases special versions of windows (Toshiba used to ship with a Toshiba branded version of windows but not any more).

As will all things software related, the annyoing features can always be turned off or removed so don't be blaming the Bow and Arrow when it is the Indian's responsibility to tune it up

As for the touch pad, proper typing technique will have your wrists pronated thus keeping the lower pads of your hands off of the keyboard/laptop

[jmr73]

You normally have to go into the BIOS to turn the pad off.

You should have software which controls the settings for the touch-pad. It can either change/customize/disable the hotspots or reduce the sensitivity.

Look for something like touchpad utility/settings.


Ok.... I didn't have the touchpad utility on this laptop so I went to the HP site and downloaded the software (Synaptics Touchpad Utility). Chances are you may have it already installed.

After installing it, it added new tabs to the Mouse properties under control panel. I now have a tab for Device settings and that is where I can adjust the sensitivity or adjust the settings.

[Hacker]

You normally have to go into the BIOS to turn the pad off.

Geoff - I'd advise you to stay away from the BIOS unless you know what you are doing - no offense intended, just trying to save you a potential SNAFU

[AndrewMGA]

Geoff - I'd advise you to stay away from the BIOS unless you know what you are doing - no offense intended, just trying to save you a potential SNAFU

Good point, I'm just so used to doing it myself .

[jvincent]

I've been using laptops at home exclusively for a couple of years now, so here are my tips.

1. Turn down the touchpad sensitivity as already mentioned.
2. Assuming you are allowed to by your work IT guys, wipe it clean of all pre-installed Norton, Dell, etc helper applications. If it were a home machine I would recommend a clean Windows install.
3. Use Firefox as your browser.
4. Double check how much memory is installed. They often ship laptops with insufficient memory and they end up swapping like crazy, which slows them down. If it's only 512M, get some more installed.

[Big Johnny69]

Thanks for all the help guys, but I tried switching some of the options and it won't allow me. The admin security won't allow me to switch anything. Oh well. US Open is on in a few minutes, it will occupy my time for the day.

[pvs1313]

geoff, this is a work laptop? then yes they set the secirtity andyou a hve to be an admin to change them.,

but for the error issue then, justy give it to the IT people and tell thenm to fix it!