Disabling trackpads/touchpads on MacBooks

We've recently had a few patrons report that the trackpads on our laptops have been acting "squirrely." I watched the patron use the computer for a little bit and learned that the cause of the erratic mouse cursor was none other than what I've called Lazy Wrist.

Much like a piano, orthodox typing posture suggests lifting the wrists away from the keyboard. If the wrist slouches it tends to brush the trackpad while the computer user is typing. Trackpads response to touch, or heat, and the wrist is just as warm as the fingertips. When a patron is innocently typing away at an important e-mail, a job application or their revolutionary manifesto, they might find that the cursor has sprung to a different part of the webpage, and that they've been pouring out their literary genius into the address field of their web page instead of the proper text field.

If this happens to you, or a patron, you might consider disabling the trackpad. Note: The laptop must have an external mouse attached to it. If you disable the trackpad and the laptop has no external mouse, there will be no way to move the mouse cursor.

Instructions (in Windows):
1) Click the 'Start' button
2) Scroll to 'Settings' and then click 'Control Panel'
3) In the 'Control Panel' window, double click the 'System' icon.
4) The 'System Properties' pane will open up. Click on the 'Hardware' tab.
5) Under the 'Hardware' tab click on the 'Device Manager'.
6) Once in the 'Device Manager' find the 'Mice and other Pointing Devices' label and click once on the + icon next to it.
7) Right-click on the Apple item, and left-click 'Disable'

Remember to restart the computer afterwards. Not only does this clear the user's internet history and cache (and logs them off of any online accounts they had logged-in to) but it will also reset the disabling of the trackpad.