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Just today, while my dad was using his computer (ASUS Eee netbook) it looked like it froze up. But it only froze the cursor. The whole computer was still running and only the mouse cursor was unresponsive. The strange thing is that it only does that on his user. All the other users work just fine. So that means that the track pad is not broken. My best guess is that it's a virus.

Do you have any advice on what to do? I'm guessing that it might just be a background process that constantly disables the mouse's movement. But I don't know.

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  • Have you restarted the computer?
    – Harry Johnston
    Commented Feb 29, 2012 at 1:53
  • Any updates on this?
    – Canadian Luke
    Commented Mar 3, 2012 at 17:10

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Windows can/does store mouse settings on a per-user basis (at least there is a control panel/mouse registry key in HKCurrentUser). In addition, sometimes trackpads/mice have a taskbar tray icon with settings. These are usually vendor-written, launch at startup, and may include per-user settings.

Your father may have removed this software from his startup list.

(I am unsure if asus would somehow store the alt+fn key "trackpad off" setting per user, but I am skeptical)

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  • It was a "trackpad off" setting. Fn+F3. Thanks!
    – Daniel
    Commented Mar 7, 2012 at 15:21
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Could also be bad sectors on a hard drive. Try running CHKDSK C: /f /r /b from an elevated command prompt (Start->Type cmd, press Ctrl+Shift+Enter)

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  • While this isn't terrible advice, this does seem like awfully random behavior to be caused by this (and to have nothing else going wrong). Have you seen a particular instance of something extremely similar?
    – Shinrai
    Commented Feb 28, 2012 at 21:58
  • @Shinrai Yup. Hard drive issues cause lots of fun problems. They're easy enough to check for, if you have patience. I have seen had hard drives affect only one user, although not the mouse issue, and I've seen hard drives get mirrored to new drives, then magically work again
    – Canadian Luke
    Commented Feb 28, 2012 at 22:58
  • I've certainly see myriad issues get fixed in that manner as well, but nothing quite so esoteric and (comparatively) minor as this, hence my curiosity. Thanks for the input. :)
    – Shinrai
    Commented Feb 28, 2012 at 22:59

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