HP laptop erases messages???

[TravisFan]

Hi, guys -

This will seem (and be) an ULTRA-stupid question, but: I just got a new HP laptop. (The screen on the old one died, and thanks for suggestions about how to save files from the hard drive!)

The new one works fine (it is an HP Pavilion g6) but - often, when I am composing messages on here, or hotmail, or elsewhere, I seem to hit "some button" that erases everything I have written.

I know my typing technique hasn't changed at all. (I type with about four fingers - the index and middle fingers of both hands. I know it isn't the "right way", it just evolved!) I WONDER if the KEY spacing on my new laptop is marginally different. But this never happened to me on my old laptop before, even when I was SO TIRED, because I had been up for DAYS, typing!

I "Googled" this, and found there were quite a few people who asked this question about HP laptops in 2011, also. . . . But most of the responses suggested they were hitting an incorrect key on the RIGHT side of the keyboard.

I THINK I must be hitting an incorrect key on the LEFT side of the keyboard, because I hardly EVER go over for any of the utilities on the right, but I am always using the ones on the LEFT - plus, I am left-handed, so my hand is always hovering over the left side. . . .

I tried an experiment, typing a chunk of text in e-mail, and then going back and hitting EVERY key on the left-hand-side (from 'escape' to 'control') to see if I could make the text vanish: but I never could! Yet, this phenomenon still intrudes, from time to time.

Any idea what I am doing wrong????

"TF"

 

[Corny]

there is no single key that would delete an entire message. that would need to be something like (shift)+ctrl+pos1 or (shift)+ctrl+end or ctrl+a and then any other key.

what i consider to be more likely is that you accidentally hit your touchpad while typing and through that mark a part of the message and when you press the next key it deletes everything and writes the new letter.

do you type while looking at the screen, or do you look at the keys?

 

[TravisFan]

there is no single key that would delete an entire message. that would need to be something like (shift)+ctrl+pos1 or (shift)+ctrl+end or ctrl+a and then any other key.

what i consider to be more likely is that you accidentally hit your touchpad while typing and through that mark a part of the message and when you press the next key it deletes everything and writes the new letter.

do you type while looking at the screen, or do you look at the keys?

Thanks, Corny -

I don't even know what the touchpad is??? Though I am a new typist, I have gotten fast enough that I usually look at the screen while typing now.

All I know is, I never had this prob when I had my old laptop??? (Maybe just a slightly different spacing???)

Thanks a lot,
"TF" XOXOXOXOXOXO

 

[T-Rexx]

Yes, the problem is your touchpad (as Corny has noted). When you type on a laptop, it is almost impossible not to occasionally touch the touchpad with a finger. The damned things are so sensitive they seem to register a touch even if your finger just gets real close.

Windows (and all other OSs) for several years now has done automatic highlighting of text. If you want to add a word you left out of your text, and you try to click the cursor into the spot where you want to make your edit, Windows will (inexplicably) automatically highlight the text to the end of the paragraph. A touch of a key will then wipe out all of the highlighted text.

Problem is, this will happen unconsciously as you are typing away. A touch (or near touch) of the touchpad will highlight a block of text without you ever realizing this has happened. The next key press then erases the whole inadvertently-highlighted block of text. You look up, and a big chunk of your document has inexplicably disappeared.

This drives me absolutely crazy.

The only "solution" I have found is to turn OFF the touchpad. I use a usb mouse instead, whenever I can. If you need to use your laptop away from a desk a lot, look into getting a small usb trackball device.

 

[T-Rexx]

All I know is, I never had this prob when I had my old laptop??? (Maybe just a slightly different spacing???

In my experience, HP touchpads do this more than those on some other machines.

(My Asus EEE PC also has a particular problem with this, especially since there is no way to turn off the touchpad on the EEE PC).

 

[rick262]

I had a Compaq computer that had a diabolical touchpad that would do the things described above with just the slightest breath of a touch. I would turn it off and then need it for something, have to turn it on and back and forth...pain in the neck. I ended up placing a post it note over it...that desensitized it AND still allowed me to leave it on and use it as desired. Might try a post it note???

 

[roadtripboy]

Maybe I'm lucky my Dell laptop has a touchpad that almost needs to be hit with a mallet before it does anything.

I use a usb mouse.

 

[TravisFan]

Hey,

Thanks, T-Rexx, Rick, and Roadtrip (and Corny too)! This has just been the WEIRDEST thing. I am, for sure, NOT the greatest typist ever, but lately half the letters I type get ERASED - usually, two WORDS before they are done!!!

I know my typing style hasn't changed a bit - and I have no problems on my computer at work: and HAD no problem on my 2009 laptop! I guess these new models are just much more SENSITIVE, or something???

One thing I hate about the computer world is that things that were previously solid-state and relatively RELIABLE, are constantly being made more SOPHISTICATED and UNSTABLE.

I am a SIMPLETON computer user, and wish my computer were less like an M-16, and more like a KALASHNIKOV: maybe lower-performance, but, fewer stutters and JAMS in the field!

Oh well - thanks, guys for shedding some light on my issue!

"TF" XOXOXOXOXOXO

 

[TravisFan]

Thanks again, guys -

This may seem weird - and maybe it is something to do with the touchpad: (and I have now learned what it IS! LOL!) - but, I seem to have isolated the problem to the left-hand side of my keyboard, and, because I am left-handed, when I am typing quickly, I tend to stray over there a lot: plus, it has more key vowels!

I think it is either the caps or the tab key (likely the latter) that is causing the problem. For sure, if I type REALLY slowly and deliberately, and STAY AWAY from the left-hand side, I can get a whole message written!

Thanks again, but I have a NEW SUPER-WEIRD question coming up!

~ TF XOXOXOXOXOXO

 

[Corny]

have you looked at the manufacturers homepage if there is a bios update for your laptop? i have seen weird problems like that .. if you type certain keys too fast a different key is triggered. in my case it was "das" fast in a row - and caps lock got active ..

 

[TravisFan]

have you looked at the manufacturers homepage if there is a bios update for your laptop? i have seen weird problems like that .. if you type certain keys too fast a different key is triggered. in my case it was "das" fast in a row - and caps lock got active ..

Corny, it's a good suggestion, and I will sure have a look!

"TF" XOXOXOXOXO