technical help with laptop request

Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle

NSC Patron

Oct 8, 2003

49,975

Faversham

• Sep 15, 2015

• #1

I am hoping one of the clever people on here can help me. I have searched online and can’t find a solution.

I have a Vaio, CORE i7 that I bought about 18 months ago. It runs windows 8.1x. It is protected by StopZilla. I surf with Mozilla. I have been known to download MP3s from short lived websites, including a couple in Russia.

The problem is this. My laptop thinks I am clicking my mouse when I’m not, meaning dialogue boxes pop open, and if the cursor is hovering over a link or document it clicks it open. I have found ‘make the mouse easier to use’ which has an ‘activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse’ option, which is not ticked.

I have tried different mice, radiomouse, plug in mouse and it is just the same. The strange thing is the problem is intermittent. Sometimes it is ‘there’ when I boot up, sometimes it takes 5 or 10 minutes before it starts. When it starts there is nothing I can do to stop it.

The problem began about 5 months ago, and has got worse and worse recently. Its driving me nuts and any advice would be most gratefully received. Thanks.

 

Tricky Dicky

New member

Jul 27, 2004

13,558

Sunny Shoreham

• Sep 15, 2015

• #2

Similar problem with my Vaio, I keep having to go to the mouse settings to turn "cursor pad" tap off. I don't want to select stuff by hitting the pad, I want to use the left/right pad buttons, but it keeps losing this setting.

 

GOM

living vicariously

Aug 8, 2005

3,225

Leeds - but not the dirty bit

• Sep 15, 2015

• #3

System restore to 6 months ago

 

Petunia

Living the dream

NSC Patron

May 8, 2013

2,264

Downunder

• Sep 15, 2015

• #4

Have you tried turning it off and on again?




Thought I'd get in first!

 

jackanada

Well-known member

Jul 19, 2011

3,157

Brighton

• Sep 15, 2015

• #5

Sounds like the OS has corrupted somewhere.
Rather than restore to 6 months ago I would download and burn the appropriate Windows OS, back up your files, nuke the hard drive and do a fresh install of OS.
This also has added advantage of being the only way to fully remove all the bloatware that got bundled in with your new laptop.

 

GOM

living vicariously

Aug 8, 2005

3,225

Leeds - but not the dirty bit

• Sep 15, 2015

• #6

jackanada said:

Sounds like the OS has corrupted somewhere.
Rather than restore to 6 months ago I would download and burn the appropriate Windows OS, back up your files, nuke the hard drive and do a fresh install of OS.
This also has added advantage of being the only way to fully remove all the bloatware that got bundled in with your new laptop.

Click to expand...

I would restore to 6 months ago in the first instance. If this does not work, then try more radical measures.
The nuclear option should not be the first option.

 

Dick Head

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jan 3, 2010

13,632

Quaxxann

• Sep 15, 2015

• #7

Maybe you'll have to wait until Sony update their drivers.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/os10upgrade.pl

 

F

Fungus

Well-known member

NSC Patron

May 21, 2004

7,046

Truro

• Sep 15, 2015

• #8

Is there a little light flashing next to your webcam?

 

jackanada

Well-known member

Jul 19, 2011

3,157

Brighton

• Sep 15, 2015

• #9

GOM said:

I would restore to 6 months ago in the first instance. If this does not work, then try more radical measures.
The nuclear option should not be the first option.

Click to expand...

I sort of agree, but only if you had the good sense to go nuclear when you first bought it. Either way the OP is going to need something good to watch on the goggle box to prevent insanity setting in while going about it.

 

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius

Jul 21, 2003

35,303

• Sep 15, 2015

• #10

i'd see if its a wonky trackpad/buttons. disable the device if you can find the option, or uninstall the drivers, see if that stops the problem while using a plug in mouse.

 

B

binky

Active member

Aug 9, 2005

632

Hove

• Sep 16, 2015

• #11

You want to establish whether it's a hardware or software fault.
The quickest way to do this is to replace the software completely.

Download a Linux distribution which boots from cd. Boot from it. And see if the problem persists while using Linux.

If you still have. Ouse problems. Then it's hardware related. If the problems go away, then it's something to do with the POS Microsoft OS or drivers.

 

D

Deleted member 22389

Guest

• Sep 16, 2015

• #12

binky said:

You want to establish whether it's a hardware or software fault.
The quickest way to do this is to replace the software completely.

Download a Linux distribution which boots from cd. Boot from it. And see if the problem persists while using Linux.

If you still have. Ouse problems. Then it's hardware related. If the problems go away, then it's something to do with the POS Microsoft OS or drivers.

Click to expand...

Excellent suggestion. You can't beat Linux for this sort of thing. Father in laws XP screwed up, just booted Linux from a DVD, it mounted the Windows drive and I so I was able to get his documents off the PC.