Okay, laptop, WTH already...
Asked by
peridot (
2435
)
May 27th, 2013
I recently got a new Lenovo, with Windows 8. It’s a departure from the old Mac, but I’ve been getting comfortable with this new keyboard configuration and the different functioning of some of the keys. Sometimes muscle memory kicks in and I try to type on the Mac while using the Lenovo, and I’m learning to recognize when this has happened. However, it’s still doing a few things I’m relatively sure aren’t a result of user error.
For example (and this has happened a few times today), I’ll be writing a long bit of text (such as this one) and with no warning, the entire page will reset and I’ll find myself on the site’s previous page, with all the entered text gone into the ether. It only happens when entering a lot of text—not when just surfing, entering passwords, etc. Is there a key on the PC keyboard I’m inadvertently hitting, or is a setting not quite right? (Or, does this thing just want to go sailing out my second-storey bedroom window? Probably not the case, but it’s an entertaining thought right now :p )
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8 Answers
Are you hitting the delete or backspace key? Don’t ask how I know.
Sounds like you’re unintentionally hitting the touchpad when you didn’t mean to, causing it to execute unwanted functions like delete, etc. This, too, used to drive me crazy until I bought a wireless mouse and disabled the touchpad (thru Control Panel settings). Alternatively, you might be able to use settings to reduce the sensitivity of the touchpad.
I gather that you’re a touch typist, and so you probably aren’t aware of the keystroke you’re hitting that’s causing this to happen- assuming it is the result of a keystroke and not some bizarre software behavior.
I know that if you hit Alt – left-arrow then that’s the same as using the browser’s “back” button, which would account for the behavior you describe. This is an unlikely key combination for you to hit by accident, though. There could also be some sort of “sticky key” thing going on (this is an accessibility “feature”) where you hit a bucky (ctrl, alt, Super, etc) and it latches until you hit the next key- and the system treats that sequence as a combination (like ctrl then R becomes ctrl-R). I know that with a new, unfamiliar laptop it can be hard to get used to new keyboard layout, and I suspect that’s the culprit here somehow.
Or it could be what @2davidc8 said. That makes a lot of sense.
Meanwhile, until you solve this mystery, you might do your composing in Notepad and save often.
I’m with @2davidc8 in believing that it’s most likely an accidental touchpad activation.
If you don’t use the touchpad, it’s easy enough to go to the Control Panel (Start / Settings / Control Panel) and simply disable it. Then you can touch it or pound it all you want, and it won’t activate. (I haven’t used touchpads on any of my Windows PCs in about ten years, unless the mouse fails for some reason.)
It may very well be a touchpad issue, as well as key combos—and in a few cases, the Delete or Backspace keys getting hit (I feel like I type on this thing the way a newborn colt runs, lol). Thanks for the perspectives, gentlemen :)
@CWOTUS Mine turns off/on when I hit Func+F9; many other laptops have similar key-combos that negate the need to dig through the control panel.
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