As I am using my mouse I often get this little bell that goes off and the message box down on the task bar says "The touchpad 'synaptic device' has been turned off because it detected another pointing device that has been plugged into your computer" This is slowing down my usnig the mouse and is annoying because of course I know that another device is plugged in - what can I do about it? When I bought the mouse the salesman did something to disengage the mousepad, but I don't know what it was. Anybody have an idea? thanks, Joan -- You ask what is our aim? I can answer in one word: victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terror. Victory however long or hard the road may be. For without victory, there is no survival.                Winston Churchill, May 1940