How to disable the Touchpad when a USB mouse is connected in Windows

Having a laptop means that our work can contemplate the use of a considerably small computer compared to those desktop computers; here we will have the possibility of work absolutely everything in a small spaceSince a laptop has its keyboard, the Touchpad that works like a mouse, the screen, the hard disk and many other accessories.

This circumstance is repeated in any platform that we have seen in terms of portable personal computers, which means that aThe same scenario will be seen on a computer with Linux, Windows or Mac; Now, if in each of these laptops we have a Touchpad, what happens with this accessory when we decide to connect an external USB mouse to the equipment?

First alternative to disable the Touchpad

If in a computer with Mac OS X we have the possibility of deactivating the Touchpad every time we commit the USB mouse, the same situation can be carried out on a laptop with Windows. It is this task that we will dedicate time to today, being a very easy and simple method that we can do in both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

For this first alternative we will consider that we are working with Windows 8.1, having to carry out the following steps to achieve our goal:

• We must direct the mouse pointer to the upper right side of the screen.
• Now we select from the bottom the option that says «Change PC Settings«.
• From the new window in which we will now find ourselves, we select «PC and Devices«.
• Towards the right side the function for the «mouse and touchpad«.

Once we have reached this place, we will only have to look for the function that will allow us disable the Touchpad every time we make a USB mouse. The suggested method is exclusive to Windows 8.1, being able to follow another alternative if we have Windows 7 on our personal computer and laptop at the same time.

Second alternative to disable the Touchpad

The method that we will suggest at this time may vary a few aspects, since there are laptops that in the Touchpad hardware have come to place one of the type Synaptics. In any case, a few steps that we suggest at this point include:

• We must click on the Windows 7 Start Menu button.
• We will head towards the «Control panel«.
• We are looking for the function of «accessibility«.
• Once here we must select the link that says «Change Mouse Operation«.
• From the new window that appears, we must go towards the end to choose «Mouse Configuration«.
• A new window will appear, from which we have to select the tab that says «Touchpad Settings«.

With these simple steps we will have already reached the place where a box will be deactivated, which we will have to activate to "Disable internal pointing device when connecting a USB external pointing device".

We will only have to close the windows by clicking on "apply" and "accept" for the changes to take effect at that moment.

As we suggested earlier, in this last part that we have mentioned as a second procedure (with the help of the Control Panel) there may be a slight variation in some of the suggested steps. The important is try to get to the «Mouse Properties» window, because that is where we will have to order what Windows should do when we connect a USB mouse. In addition to all this, the first procedure is compatible only with Windows 8.1, while the other alternative that we suggest later can be applied both for said operating system and for Windows 7.