I started my laptop up one day, and its running abnormally slow. A few days
later, the touchpad internal mouse quit working. When I try to move the
pointer, or click with it, there is no response. But when I attach a USB
mouse, it works fine. How can I fix my mouse and stop my computer from
running so slow?
If the touchpad is broken, a hardware repair is needed. An alternative
pointing device, such as the USB mouse you mention, can be used instead of
the touchpad until the repairs are made.
There is a chance that controls the software for the touchpad is broken
instead of the actual hardware. You can try reinstalling that software. If
you're lucky, you won't need a hardware repair.
As for the overall slowness of the computer, check that you have enough
free space on the hard drive for the page file. If choked for free space,
the system will run like molasses. Move older and not often used personal
files to other media. If still in need of room, uninstall programs that you
do not use.
Also, whenever performance changes for no apparent reason check for the
presence of viruses and/or malware. You could also check in Event Viewer
(Start> Run> eventvwr.msc) to see what system and application errors might
be contributing to the performance problem. Errors are marked with a red
icon in Event Viewer. Double click on one to read the detailed report. From
there, each error will need to be researched individually.
