Electronics

[house_cat]

My new job has provided me with a brand new Dell laptop computer, and it's driving me batty.  I've used a desktop PC for many years at my previous job and a MacBook at home.. neither of them has had this problem.  Any time I rest the cursor anywhere on the screen, it immediately "chooses" the new destinaton for me.  It opens emails that I don't want to open and takes me to links and sites which I don't want to visit. I've tried to find a setting to prevent this from happening, but it's hard to search a problem when I don't know how to phrase it.

If you can help me out I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you.

[moonandthestars]

@house_cat 

That's crazy! I've pretty much used laptops exclusively all these years and have never experienced or even heard of such thing.  I'll be interested to hear the comments you receive that might have an explanation and/or remedy.  I lean towards a malfunctioning computer but what do I know

[KLm]

@house_cat   I would try this. Go to settings, devices, then mouse. You can see what your mouse settings are and change them. There should also be a troubleshooting option at the bottom, which will probably take you to the web for a solution.

If this doesn't help (and I hope it does) I vote with @moonandthestars  that it is a defective laptop.

[LdyBugz]

@house_cat  You can adjust the sensitivity level for your touch pad in the settings, or turn it off altogether.  If you have a habit of resting your wrists close to the touchpad and mouse buttons right under the touchpad, that could cause the cursor to jump around and open things. I shut my touchpad off because I was causing the issue.  You can also go to Dell's support page and see if there are any driver updates.

[Desertdi]

Could it be just the MOUSE that's malfunctioning?   Have you tried using a different one?    Or are you just using the touchpad?   (I don't understand what's going on, either.)

[Jk9]

@house_cat Have you checked with your work IT dept?  Every place I worked that provided a device had folks to set it up and maintain it.  They should know how to deal with their particular set up and do it for you.  I had a Dell laptop at work and loved it.

[house_cat]

Thanks, everyone.

I have a feeling I'm not explaining the issue clearly.

I'm using the touchpad, not an external mouse.  The ChromeBooks my students used at my previous school did the same thing, so it's not a malfunction.  I think it's designed that way for convenience so you don't need to click - you just hover over something for a second and it opens.  I think there was a setting for it on the ChromeBook, but I can't find it on this Dell.  Our IT guy was super-busy with a special situation the last couple of weeks and I was hesitant to bother him.  I will do that asap and if I find a solution in the meantime I will surely post it here.  

Thank you.

[house_cat]

This is the latest info I found about it.

I'm going to try it if I have a chance today at work.