Have you ever accidentally disabled the touch pad on your laptop? Well, I hope it never happens to you.

It happened to me yesterday. And basically my laptop was frozen. I couldn’t do a thing with it. Without a touch pad, you may as well be on a remote island without a boat.

And if you’ve also disabled the touch screen because you hate finger smudges, you have a real conundrum on your hands.

In When you Accidentally Disable Your Touch Pad, you can't work on your laptop till it's fixed.

Because then nothing will work.

Perhaps a computer mouse would have helped.

Cleaning Out My Office For Coming Changes:

Oddly enough, my housekeeper Maria and I were cleaning out my office on Friday. I’m redoing that room, with the help of Maria of course.

I never sat at my desk in there. That chair looked comfortable when I ordered it, but turns out it wasn’t.

So I just avoided my desk and chair altogether.

And as I’ve mentioned, I’m still planning to turn that space into a sewing/craft room.

My girls got two black desks for my birthday last week. One is to put my sewing machine on. The other is to lay out crafts, things I’m working on, etc. Or to work on my laptop.

I had planned to have all the desks remain in my office. There was room.

But the black desks and the desk I currently had just weren’t going to work together. The two styles were very different.

So I gave the desk and chair to Maria. She and her husband came Friday afternoon to pick them up.

The horrible frustration of not being able to fix it

Cleaning Out My Desk Drawer:

Earlier that day, we’d cleaned out the desk’s drawer. We came across a detached computer mouse I didn’t even realize I had.

I recall setting it aside.

It’s possible it accidentally got thrown away. Because yesterday when my computer was frozen I turned the room upside down looking for it in the hopes a computer mouse might somehow help me.

It must have accidentally gotten into the throw away pile and is now long gone. Talk about bad timing.

I called several neighbors to see if they might have a computer mouse I could borrow.

Neither of those two neighbors still had a computer. Now everyone seems to just use their phone or an iPad or something. So I was back to square one.

I googled for ways to possibly free it on my phone, but nothing worked.

So I ended up getting in touch with Best Buy, where I’d purchased the laptop just over a year ago.

The Age Of No Longer Being Able To Call A Store:

You can no longer just call the local Best Buy store. They no longer have phones in the store, so customers can’t call them. You have to call a 1-800 number.

I managed to get in touch with someone through the Best Buy website who gave me suggestions for enabling the touch pad by clicking certain keys. Nothing worked for him either.

So he set up an appointment with the Geek Squad for this morning. Luckily I was covered under a plan I paid for last year when they came to put a stand on my TV I’d purchased there. So I wasn’t going to be charged for the visit.

However something like this drives me crazy. I can be relentless when I want something. And I wanted that cursor unfrozen so I wouldn’t have to have the Geek Squad come here.

Clicking At Random In Frustration:

I gave up worrying that I was going to do something wrong. So I began clicking keys on my keyboard at random.

In When you Accidentally Disable Your Touch Pad, I felt like I was in computer hell

I managed to find a website on my phone that suggested using my Tab key to once again get to a place that would enable the touch pad.

I used the Tab key until finally I got it to skip from one box to another. Like clicking down a page of full sentences. I was clicking from box to box trying to get to that little toggle that would turn my touch pad back on.

Oddly enough, the cursor was only a hair away from the box that would free the touch pad. But without the use of the touch pad, there was no way to get into the box to toggle it back on.

With the tab key, I clicked and clicked on it and it went over and over the same stuff. But suddenly it got to a box that suggested it would enable/disable the touch pad.

I was finally able to get inside the box on the screen that I needed to get into, and I turned the touch pad back on. And I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

When I Was Working In Settings:

Now this disabling of the touch screen occurred when I was in Settings trying to increase the volume of my laptop audio.

You see, I know just enough about computers to be dangerous.

Trying to fix one problem led to the bigger problem of accidentally disabling the touch pad to this laptop.

So the Geek Squad appointment was canceled.

I have to say that the inner workings of computers baffle me. And sometimes I get into trouble or delete something important.

Have you ever accidentally clicked around on the keys on your keyboard trying to fix something and ended up in computer hell?

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I'm Brenda, creator of Cozy Little House. I live with my cat, Ivy, who keeps me laughing. I graduated from journalism school with a degree in professional writing and won awards for feature writing. I practice gratitude and enjoy my solitude. The glass is always half-full.

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22 Comments

  1. LOL, I specifically disable my touch pad, because I have a mouse. I can’t use a touch pad for the life of me. I’m old school. That aside, I can’t wait to see your office when you’re finished. Mine gets the ugly award for garbage that should be in a basement. A hodgepodge of the most ugly… and it really is depressing. I’ll live through you.

      1. Oh… you have no idea. An ugly old grey laminate desk with a beat up top, black file cabinets, oak shelving and a blue rimmed laminate table. It’s ugly. I’m trying to get my husband to ditch his office desk in the garage that he doesn’t use for mine. At least with a wood top and black legs there would be some cohesion. 😉

  2. Good for you! Computers and cars are just supposed to work. And happy birthday month!

    1. That’s how I feel. You get in a car and turn it on and you’re supposed to just go. Computers are contrary things.

  3. Wow persistence paid off. I hate when stuff like that happens and even with help you cannot get things to work. Glad it is up and running and you did not have to take it to the Geek Squad.
    Have a great week.

    1. I just didn’t want people in her I didn’t know. I’m funny about that. So I managed to fix it myself.

  4. We all have been there at some point! I am glad you finally did it!! I always try to shut my device down by holding the start button down and then turning it back on. Geek Squad is quite good but something to consider: depending on your device brand there is usually a Tech Support line or online chat you may be able to access. Just an idea for future issues! For ex: if it is an Apple iPad you can go to getsupport.apple.com & enter your device and the problem. You can then sign in w your Apple ID or the serial number of your device (keep the serial # handy in your desk drawer in case you don’t have access to the device). It is a 24/7 line. If you have an Apple store near you you can also bring it in and they will try to help you there on the spot (I know this isn’t very convenient for you but it’s an option). Sometimes just randomly hitting around the screen like you did works too!!! Maria is a blessing for you and I am sure she appreciates having your desk and chair. I can’t wait to see your new office/craft space!

  5. Computers have always been frustrating to me. For some reason ( maybe some kind of bad energy I put out?) machines and technology tend not to work right for me. Way back when I
    worked in an office, they banned me from touching the copy machine. It would get all out of whack when I used it. Lots of computer problems too with the program freezing up and I’d have no clue how to fix it. Luckily we had an in house IT guy and he could come right down the stairs and get me back up and running. Was a different story when the let me work from
    home and I lived in a different town then, lol! So glad you got your problem straightened out and you could cancel the Geeks.
    Don’t you just hate that these days you cannot call anyplace directly any more. I swear half the time I spend three times as much time on the phone just trying to reach the person I need than it does to answer my question or fix the problem! So frustrating for us old geezers who can still remember picking up the phone, dialing the number, a live person answering and being who you wanted to reach.

  7. I think everyone has been in computer hell at some point. For me, I usually have no idea how I did it. In fact, if I were trying to do it, I wouldn’t know how to. My son fixes all my computer problems for me, thankfully. I’m glad you were able to figure out how to fix your problem, and I can’t wait to see your new sewing room when it’s finished.

  8. Computer hell is exactly what it becomes! One seemingly small problem leads to bigger problems. My husband was a computer nerd so he fixed anything that went wrong. Now it’s me, myself and I we are a dangerous trio. Ugh I hope everything is rectified very soon.
    Can’t wait to see the changes you’re making to your office aka playroom. LOL
    Do something fun today!!!

    1. I’ve got it fixed. But now I’m scared to go into Settings! Afraid I might screw something else up.

  9. Something like this drives me insane. Been there, did that. I’ve had a PC for more than 30 years, and I don’t know anything more about them, then I did years ago.
    I don’t own a lap top, or a cell phone, because I would probably screw one of those up. Anyway, very happy that you were able to find the “fix” today.
    Have a peace full rest of the day…

    1. Me too. I can figure out some things. But boy, when you disable things and can’t figure out how to fix them, it is truly computer hell!

  10. Yes, I have been in “computer hell” quite a few times! I, like you, do not have patience to wait for help. I research how to fix the problem, and try to fix it on my own. Sometimes I’m successful but most of the time my daughter fixes it!

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