J.D. Hodges

Q. I have a brand new Asus laptop with all the latest drivers but one thing is DRIVING ME CRAZY! When I am dragging something around using the trackpad or even just scrolling sideways sometimes my laptop randomly switches apps 🙁 I am running Windows 8 and any help is appreciated!!! –Ambra D

A. Thank you for your question Ambra, I believe I know what is happening and how to solve your problem:

Your trackpad is inadvertently triggering the Windows 8 ‘swipe from the left edge’ gesture which switch apps. 🙁 This gesture is actually pretty useful on touchscreen laptops and tablets. However, it can be very annoying if the trackpad emulates this behavior . Thankfully since you have an ASUS laptop and the latest drivers you should have an easy option to disable that gesture on the trackpad. Here are the steps to take:

#1 Go to the ‘Desktop’ in Windows 8

#2 Move your mouse to the lower right hand corner of the screen (to the taskbar notification area) and look for a small ‘trackpad’ icon, you may have to click the ‘^’ arrow to show the hidden icons:

Doubleclick the trackpad icon to open the trackpad settings window

#3 After a Windows security prompt you should be greeted with a window similar to this:

Uncheck (as shown) the ‘Switch Running Applications’ to disable the swipe from left edge feature

All you should have to do now is uncheck the appropriate box (‘Switch Running Applocations) and your issue should be resolved!

+At your convenience, please let me know if this tip works for you Ambra and what you rate it on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. Thank you 🙂

UPDATE from Ambra:

THANK YOU!!! It worked just like you said and now I can truly enjoy my laptop without that annoying hiccup, thank you again and bless you. Also I rate it 5 stars because it fixed the problem exactly. 🙂 -Ambra D

UPDATE from JD:

You are very welcome Ambra and thank you for your kind rating!