It doesn’t matter how powerful your laptop is, a touchpad can make or break your experience. After all, unless you want to use a mouse, it’s your main point of interaction with the computer. That means if your cursor is slow, imprecise, or jumpy, you’re going to have a bad time. Certain manufacturers may have better trackpads than others—I love it on a MacBook, but can’t stand the one on my ThinkPad. Sometimes software glitches, dirt, or even your own preferences can get in the way of what you want to do. If you’re tired of dealing with a trackpad that won’t work properly, here are a few solutions that may help.
1. Use Only One Finger
This is going to sound stupid, but hear me out: Much like the iPhone 4, you might be holding it wrong. Changing the way you rest your hand on the laptop could help improve its responsiveness. Some laptops have a bigger than normal touchpad that can get in the way if you’re not used to its size. For example, as someone used to the more compact touchpads on a Mac, I was thrown off when I received an 18-inch Dell laptop from work, which had a much larger trackpad.
Most touchpads have a form of palm detection built-in, which aims to distinguish between your pointer finger and thumb or palm resting on the bottom of the trackpad. But this feature works better on some laptops than others, and if yours has less effective palm detection, it may not work well if you rest your thumb on the bottom for easy clicks. Try using the trackpad with only one finger at a time. It’s probably not comfortable, but it may help make your laptop usable again until you find a more permanent solution. If this doesn’t fix the issue, you’re likely dealing with a more complicated problem.
2. Clean the Trackpad
It’s gross to think about, but there’s a lot of dirt, grime, and skin oils that can build up on your laptop over time. If it’s been a while since you cleaned your computer, it could be time to grab a soft cloth, moisten it with a bit of water (or isopropyl alcohol), and give the touchpad a good cleaning. Make sure to also clean in and around the buttons on the trackpad, if those are giving you trouble. (And clean those dirty keycaps while you’re at it.) The computer may respond better if it can more accurately detect your fingers or stop registering debris as a legitimate touch.
(Credit: Charles Jeffries / PCMag)
3. Adjust Trackpad Settings
There’s a good chance some of these issues come from personal preferences and your computer’s own settings. While not every machine offers the same level of control, your laptop’s drivers should let you customize how the touchpad responds to your movements.
(Credit: Microsoft / PCMag)
In Windows 10, open Settings > Devices > Touchpad and change Touchpad sensitivity in the menu. For Windows 11, go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad and open the Taps menu to do the same. You might also want to turn off the tap or right-click features that are enabled by default. Multi-finger touch gestures can also give you grief, so turn those off if you keep invoking them accidentally. If a down motion to scroll up is confusing, change it under Scrolls & zoom.
Click More touchpad settings to open the Mouse Properties window, then click the Pointer Options tab and try enabling or disabling Enhance Pointer Precision. Many modern laptops use touchpads designed with Microsoft’s drivers in mind, but some still use drivers from manufacturers like Elan or Synaptics. If your laptop falls into this category, look for an extra tab with touchpad settings; often, you’ll find more options hidden there. If that tab is missing, but you know you have a Synaptics touchpad, you may be able to bring it back by rolling back the driver or tweaking the registry, though I haven’t done this myself.
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(Credit: Microsoft / PCMag)
If you’re a Mac user, open System Settings > Trackpad to view settings that control point-and-click, scroll, zoom, and gesture controls. Under Point & Click, you can adjust the tracking speed and set additional click options. If you find yourself regularly causing accidental clicks, adjust the force click, secondary click, and tap to click settings. Click Scroll & Zoom to adjust gesture controls for zooming and rotating the screen. Under More Gestures, you can customize swiping and pinching gestures for opening apps or swiping through windows. If you keep accidentally performing an action, these can either be turned off or changed to be harder to perform.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)
4. Download New Drivers
If your laptop hasn’t automatically updated to the latest drivers for your touchpad, you may be missing out on some recent improvements. Head to your manufacturer’s website—e.g. Dell, Lenovo, etc.—and punch your laptop’s model number into their support page. Download the latest driver manually, install it on your system, and see if that helps.
Some users may report good results with unofficial drivers not designed for that specific laptop, but this is just as likely to make things worse as it is to make them better. A popular 2017 trick, for example, involved installing Lenovo Precision drivers on non-Precision laptops, but it no longer works. I’ve also seen rare cases where users report success with updating the BIOS as well. You can even try searching your specific model laptop to see if others have had similar issues. Note, however, that you should proceed with caution and back up your computer before resorting to any experimental solutions.
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(Credit: PCMag / Logitech)
5. Look for a Hardware Issue
If software tweaks don’t work, take a look at the trackpad itself. Is it uneven at all? Aging batteries can bulge under the trackpad, causing it to lift up and create erratic behavior. Have you recently recovered from a bad spill? Even if you cleaned the laptop’s surface, the innards may be damaged. If you’ve recently dropped it, the trackpad’s ribbon cable could have become loose. The touchpad may even be faulty.
You can take it to a local shop or contact the manufacturer, but if you’re out of warranty and the manufacturer is no help, you’d be surprised how far you can get with a small screwdriver. You can typically find replacement parts online and swap them right in. Check out iFixit for detailed guides on how to replace your laptop’s trackpad.
(Credit: Tony Hoffman / PCMag)
6. Save Yourself the Headache and Use a Mouse
You probably don’t want to hear it, but here’s the reality: Some laptops just have terrible trackpads, and no amount of tweaking will make it top-tier. If you aren’t yet ready to buy a new laptop, it may be time to bite the bullet and resort to using a mouse. There are plenty of great wireless mice out there that will make your experience a lot more pleasant—I’ve been very happy with the Logitech Lift for several years now, for example.
Learning your keyboard shortcuts for Windows 10, Windows 11, or macOS will also mean less time spent with your finger on a junk trackpad. They’re also quicker than any mouse, so they may ultimately be more helpful.
About Our Experts
Whitson Gordon
Contributing Writer
Experience
Whitson Gordon is a writer, gamer, and tech nerd who has been building PCs for 10 years. He eats potato chips with chopsticks so he doesn’t get grease on his mechanical keyboard.
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Jason Cohen
Senior Editor, Help & How To
Experience
As PCMag’s editor of how to content, I have to cover a wide variety of topics and also make our stories accessible to everyday users. Considering my history as a technical writer, copywriter, and all-around freelancer covering baseball, comics, and more at various outlets, I am used to making myself into an expert.
I believe tech corporations are bad, but you might as well know how to use technology in everyday life. Want more how to content delivered right to your inbox? Sign up for the tips and tricks newsletter that I curate twice a week.
My job as how-to guru means I use just about every gadget under the sun, so I can figure out how everything works. I work from a Lenovo ThinkPad running Windows 11, but also have a very large Dell Inspiron 17 3000 and Apple silicon MacBook. I also have a Google Pixel 6a for personal use and use a Galaxy Z Flip 4 for additional Samsung-related testing. For iOS coverage, an iPhone 13 mini works like a charm, though it’s already becoming a little long in the tooth.
My desktop situation includes a dual monitor setup with a modest Acer monitor. I also use a Logitech mouse (who can use these ThinkPad trackpads) and a Havit keyboard (my first mechanical keyboard; I love it but my wife hates it!). I’m a recent convert from wired headphones; I have Anker Soundcore Liberty Air wireless earbuds for personal use and have taken to the Sennheiser HD 450BT headphones for work.
Whenever I have a second to myself, I’m probably gaming on my Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, or Xbox Series S. I also still have a bunch of classic consoles lying around as well.
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