Fifteen years into a new century and the miracles of technology only make my life more stressful and difficult. In the old days, computers really were our servants and we basically could dictate our wishes to them. They had to learn our language essentially in order to work with us.
Now, however, the reverse is true, making our culture more like Philip K. Dick's nightmarish predictions than ever. As each new version of Windows is released, each new 'revolutionary' app or platform, our existing servants are forced to retire and we have to update or upgrade to the new race of minions.
What this means, unfortunately, is that we have less and less control over our technological devices unless we are software experts. The marketing extols the beauty of devices that need no direction, that can intuit our wishes and desires, but what that really signifies is that we have no privacy and very little control.
My sessions with my laptop tend to be an ongoing battle where the device attempts to control my typing, my browsing, my choices... meanwhile, my old laptop almost cannot reach any site now because it is so slow and outdated. Microsoft is making certain of THAT. After all, if the old machines remain reliable and efficient, what need for the newest models?
Finally, after almost being driven to suicide by a laptop that would hang suspended in the net for almost half an hour without ever reaching the destination I had given it, or documents that would take almost half an hour to save, I found a new cheap laptop/tablet. It is an Asus and cost less than any others of its race. Advertised as a laptop/tablet, it really is NOT that in practical terms because it is not an 'android device', despite flawed information from so-called experts at both Best Buy and Amazon who assured me that it was.
In other words, it will not support apps that are designed for android devices such as Family Farm Seaside. Being a Microsoft product, it tries to put everything into the context of the XBox. I do not have an XBox and I doubt I ever will. This makes the built-in Music and Games Applications on the Asus utterly useless to me.
It is not as lightweight as one would wish, but it is small and you can remove the screen to create a tablet sort of device that is half the weight of the whole sandwich of monitor and keyboard. When the two are separated, the keyboard appears onscreen and is touch-controlled.
I have had it for about a fortnight now. It took me forever simply to suss out how to use it, to awaken it, put it to sleep, find my stuff and so on. My biggest problem, however, was a leaping, dancing cursor that made it impossible for me to do any writing, even a simple sentence in Wordpad. Whenever I tried to type, the cursor would jump to the top of the page, to an arbitrary point in the centre of a word in an earlier paragraph or somewhere equally absurd. What was worse sometimes was its horrible ability to highlight and then erase everything in a single tap of a key when I thought I was WRITING, not DELETING.
It finally occurred to me to enter the problem in a Google Search. I discovered that an enormous number of individuals have the same problem with THEIR laptops and it is not exclusive by any means to Asus. Dell, HP, Sony even... the laptops can be inexpensive or luxury models and the leaping cursor can affect them equally.
It is kind of outrageous actually that Microsoft would concentrate on ever new Windows systems and yet allow something like this to bedevil us. The solution I found in message boards was created by some independent person and is called TouchFreeze. It is an old programme actually from 2012. It has been archived, whatever that means, but I still was able to install it. What it does is disable the Touchpad supposedly while one is using the keyboard. You would think that would be built into the laptop, wouldn't you???
So far, it appears to be working about 90% of the time. As long as I type quickly without pauses, I appear to be able to complete a sentence now!
Here is a link to a Google code site without any adverts:
TouchFreeze
Some users have complained that they have to reinstall it every few months and others that it does not always load automatically every day. Frankly though, it is worth the effort, even if it does not give 100% satisfaction. Once again though, why is Microsoft not making this standard for Windows???\
Later: I am finding that it does not always work. For some reason, when my laptop resets in any way, TouchFreeze no longer appears to do the job. I tried another 'fix' recommended, which was to change the option NOT to 'hide pointer when typing'. In other words, untick that box in your Pointer or Mouse settings. It is rather difficult to find my Settings on this little Asus but I finally managed it. Perhaps the combination will give me some relief from that awful leaping pointer/cursor.
About Me
- Valkyrie Hawk
- My name is Eugenia-Maria Martino de Conde. Freyashawk is the name under which I write game guides and play many games. I specialise in Northern mythology but my original academic background is in History and British Law. Mine is the view of an exile, a Swan-Maiden rather than a god. Not an exile from heaven (that would be arrogant), but an exile nonetheless. I have lived in La Jolla, Nepal, London, Southampton, Manhattan, Roma, Pennsylvania et alia but spiritually belong to no land. Thus the affiliation with the air, hawk and swan. A Valkyrie chooses heroes from the slain. Walking among the dead is disconcerting. My greatest loves are my daughter and my Puttikins, my Himalayan cat clan. As Freyashawk, I write strategy guides for games. Time to write another novel for a writer can be a Valkyrie, creating warriors from her imagination that inspire people in the eternal battle between good and evil. Therein is the power I desire.
