cursor jumping on laptops

I notice that when typing on a laptop, the cursor occasionally jumps to another line up the screen.  I notice it happens when I am typing in google docs.

I thought it was just me, but I see that others have this problem too.

Apparently this is a problem with Windows.

So one solutions is to not use Windows.

Another solution is to use an external keyboard.

And the author's solution was to use a program called touchfreeze.

I think I'll try it.

***

Wait, here's another solution: disable the touchpad.

It's Fn F10 on a SamSung laptop.  What is it on a Dell laptop?

Here's the Dell information.  Unfortunately none of the hotkeys worked on this Inspiron 1440.

And can't find it in control panel.

Go to Dell.com, look for Inspiron 1440 and download Alps touchpad driver

hey there it is in the control panel now

and I see there's an option to disable touchpad / pointing stick when external USB mouse is present.

OK, try that and see if the problem re-occurs.