Windows 10 How do I disable multi-finger functions and other "smart" gestures on a laptop which uses the Windows 10 Operating System?

  • Thread starter Thread starter MichaelPeiper
  • Start date Start date
M

MichaelPeiper

I recently obtained a new laptop and need to disable the "smart" gestures on the touch pad. The laptop is a LENOVO ideapad110 and the operating system is Windows 10. I need to disable the "smart" gestures on the touch pad because it is habitually ineffective and causing me to lose data when it inaccurately interprets my finger movement for commands to zoom in or zoom out, scroll the screen, drag and highlight, or scan to another tab or window.


I was uncertain as to how to disable, and my initial attempt to go into the start menu, settings, devices, mouse, additional mouse options, proved unsuccessful in finding a solution for any options to disable the "smart" gestures on the touchpad. I then clicked the help hyperlink and began to search for questions and answers regarding the topic "Windows 10 disable touch pad gestures". Ultimately, I did not find any advice which had not already known and failed trying. Nor did I find any advice which I wanted to bother trying for some reason or another. The vast majority of the user advice revolved around the obvious and fundamental knowledge which almost everyone already knows - that being go into the start menu, settings, devices, mouse, additional mouse options; although worded in a variety of formats and a variety of means.


Frustrated, I dismissed the typical Microsoft Moderator response directing those who had asked the question to consult the manufacturer of their computer. But after some more searching and realizing that the majority of people were as knowledgeable as myself, and noticing that many provided the same answers over and over, essentially stating Microsoft Moderator's answer, only in a less pithy manner. Frustrated and with nothing left to lose and nobody to trust for advice other than the Microsoft Moderator, I attempted to listen to the Microsoft Moderator's answer in earnest. Without knowing what exactly I was looking for, but with the knowledge that some application or program should exist on my computer installed by the manufacturer for the purpose of controlling the settings to inherit devices, such as the laptop's touchpad, I started my search for clues. I began to think of conspicuous icons in my memory, and recalled those which I had never clicked, but for some reason or another in the past stirred up associations with things like settings, touchpads, mouses, devices, and Apollo Creed.


So I searched for some sort of app I should have according to the Microsoft Forum Moderator. It was then that I remembered an icon which I had unpinned from the task-bar a while ago and had never used prior which met my criteria for a suspicious icon of interest in my ongoing investigation. I delved into the dark underbelly of the start menu in search of clues. And there hidden away from the everyday world of the ordinary desktop, I found my suspect - the LENOVO Settings icon. I clicked the icon and agreed to some privacy statements, and disagreed to some others, and then received any updates required. After a quick transfer of data from my world to somewhere in the inter-webs-space, I had downloaded the necessary updates for the LENOVO Settings App and was now hot on the trail in my search to find any leads having to do with devices, input, mouse, or touchpad which would allow be to shut the case and bring Uncle Gestures to justice.


I felt like I was getting warmer to my discovery. I was able to find settings for the touchpad, and clicked a hyperlink which brought me right back to the scene of the crime - but this time, there existed some form of evidence which I had not noticed prior. Right there in the same exact window which all look into, known as the start>settings>devices: Bluetooth, printers, and mouse>touchpad window to the veteran PI such as you and I. However, whether I failed to notice this tab within the window before, or it simply did not exist up until now, I am not 100 percent sure. But I will state that I am certain beyond a reasonable doubt and swear under oath that tab was NOT there before. I know for 100 percent because I had been in that window about a dozen times before repeating the learned tactical process of attempting to solve my problem via the same solution in the vain hope that I missed something before. A stratagem common among professionals and IT people, as well as those who have misplaced keys, clickers, and other useless and superfluous items of the modern-day human.


But I digress, what was the tab and why was it so significant in solving my problem? It was the ELAN tab located directly to the right of the Hardware tab, and it was the last tab of the five tabs available - those being, in order of first to last, left to right: Buttons, Pointers, Pointer Options, Hardware, and ELAN. The ELAN tab, an ambiguous tab I cannot recall seeing before in my investigations and following up on my leads in the case of the habitual line-stepping gestures. In that ELAN tab was at the time and still is now a button which simply reads 'Options...' I clicked said button and it opened the LENOVO Settings Application directly at the page which dealt with all of the touchpad settings and so called smart gestures to include three finger, four finger, shocker, swipe, rotate, zoom, tap, and more. Case closed.


So if you have gone down that road in the past and not found your own version of the ELAN tab, then check again. And if it is not there, then I am correct that you must first open your manufacturer's own version of "LENOVO Settings Application" and agree or not to the privacy consent and download any updates or not, in order for the "ELAN" tab to appear; thus enabling you also to defeat the ever-trolling touchpad gestures.


And if you are like myself and have visited the start>settings>devices: Bluetooth, printers, and mouse>touchpad window on about a dozen different occassions seeking out a solution only to fail again and again- it may be because you never installed this so-called "Manufacturer's Application"; which according to the Microsoft Moderator on their Q&A Forum, should exist on every computer from day-one. At least in my case it was so.


In conclusion, therefore, vis a vis, concordently, ergo, henceforth and worthy, I hope that anybody who has decided to stop feeding the gestures troll will find aid in my memoirs detailing my own struggle and triumph of will. Whether your ELAN tab springs forth from the loins of a Dell Settings App, ASUS, HP, or perhaps even an IBM, this is my victory parade and declaration of independence; a massive discussion which I was able to complete without Uncle Gesturers trolling my toll across the fail bridge.


Because I a picture is worth a thousand words...


Below:

I have taken screenshots. These slides are exhibits A thru WW and depict all evidence presented in my successful conviction of Uncle Gestures the touchpad troll.






Continue reading...
 
Back
Top