Anyone else out there with a dell laptop with a touchpoint input device (the little nub in the center of the keyboard) can probably commiserate and celebrate with me.  I had been experiencing severe mouse drift on my Inspiron 8100 for about a year now.  As long as I have my USB mouse plugged-in it’s not a problem. However, anytime I’m forced to use the touchpad or the touchpoint, my mouse is locked in a corner of the screen and I am forced to navigate my way around Windows using only the keyboard (which I’ve become quite good at… I guess that’s the silver lining.  Shift+F10 is now my favorite keyboard shortcut, barely edging out Alt+Tab).

After a year of mounting frustration I ended up going to this blog for instructions on how to cut the cable between the touchpoint and the motherboard.  The post is titled Fixing Mouse Drift with a Sledgehammer, which quickly enticed me.  The surgury was minor, and my laptop pulled through like a champ.  The beast lives to see another day.  I wanted to post about this in case anyone else is having this mouse drift problem because I am so happy with the result.  It’s like I have a brand new laptop.  Anyway, if you’re having this problem too, don’t hesitate cut the cable.