“When I am typing on my laptop, my cursor sometimes ends up somewhere else on the page. Is this a computer or website issue?”

(Answer requested by Katherine Quinn)

My first guess is that it’s a purely physical issue with your laptop.

For example, one of the reasons I use an external, plug-in keyboard on my laptop is because my thumbs used to occasionally brush the laptop’s touchpad as I typed on the built-in keyboard; I wouldn’t feel the touch, but the cursor would suddenly move, breaking my concentration and messing up whatever I was typing.

Even with a separate keyboard, I still sometimes cause problems for myself: I’m a heavy-handed typist, and I sometimes type so hard my keyboard tray vibrates enough to cause my mouse to shift on its own — likewise unintentionally moving the cursor.

Computer lore is filled with stories of users experiencing these kinds of random typing/mousing problems — only to find that an errant finger, or a bouncy lap or thighs, or a protruding body part (bellies and underboobs, especially), or a piece or fold of clothing, or a million other purely-physical issues, where something imperceptibly brushing against the hardware caused the cursor to move.

And again — I’ve been bitten twice by this problem myself! 🙂

So, check your physical setup first for anything that might interfere with or accidentally brush or touch your mouse or touchpad.

Next, if necessary, you can make your cursor less sensitive to input. You don’t specify what OS you’re using, but here’s info for Windows 10:

1. In Win10, type mouse in the search box, and then click Mouse settings. On the Mouse settings page, click Additional mouse options, and then follow along with the info below (from Microsoft’s general Change mouse settings page for Windows 7).
2. Click the Pointer Options tab, and then do any of the following:       
   • To change the speed at which the mouse pointer moves, under Motion, move the Select a pointer speed slider toward Slow or Fast.
   • To make the pointer work more accurately when you’re moving the mouse slowly, under Motion, select the Enhance pointer precision check box.
   • To speed up the process of selecting a choice when a dialog box appears, under Snap To, select the Automatically move pointer to the default button in a dialog box check box. (Not all programs support this setting. In some programs, you’ll need to move the mouse pointer to the button you want to click.)
   • To make the pointer easier to find when you move it, under Visibility, select the Display pointer trails check box, and then move the slider toward Short or Long to decrease or increase the length of the pointer trail.
   • To ensure that the pointer doesn’t block your view of the text you’re typing, under Visibility, select the Hide pointer while typing check box.
   • To find a misplaced pointer by pressing the Ctrl key, under Visibility, select the Show location of pointer when I press the Ctrl key check box.
3. Click OK.

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