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  • Is this important or can I get rid of it?

    Every time I boot my laptop, my cursor freezes. It will click and occasionally make very short, jerky movements, but won't move the way it's supposed to. The only way to fix this is to keyboard shortcut my way into the Task Manager and end a task called "Synaptics Touchpad 64-bit Enhancements". It doesn't restart itself and my touchpad works just fine without it. I've located the file itself on my hard drive as well.

    I've looked around online and can't find a good answer to this- is it okay if I delete the file that is causing this problem? Or am I going to have to just deal with it?
    The fact that jellyfish have survived for 650 million years despite not having brains gives hope to many people.

    You would have to be incredibly dense for the world to revolve around you.

  • #2
    I don't 'just delete' program application files until I'm certain there's no other alternative, and that their disappearance won't cause other problems.

    I suggest going to the task manager, clicking on the 'startup' tab, locating the appropriate entry, and disabling it. This will prevent it from loading at startup. If after a few weeks, everything is still working satisfactorily, open your add/remove program control panel, and uninstall that particular software entirely.

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    • #3
      It's not showing up on the Startup tab, though. If it was, I would have disabled it a long time ago.
      The fact that jellyfish have survived for 650 million years despite not having brains gives hope to many people.

      You would have to be incredibly dense for the world to revolve around you.

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      • #4
        It's part of the drivers for the touchpad. So I have no idea if it is safe to delete, but it does sound like it's borked.
        ludo ergo sum

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        • #5
          The way to fix that and improve your start up in MS is to go Start / Run / Type MSCONFIG

          Now un-check any programs you do not want to start up when you power on. then save and reboot. This will make your boot up slightly faster. Things you can turnoff, Browser tool bars, Apple programs, that touch pad one, things you don't use instantly when powering on are a good call to turn off on boot up.

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          • #6
            I looked there and found a few other programs that were slowing down my laptop when it boots but it's not showing anything about the touchpad.

            After a bit of research I found someone with the same problem, but it looks like an attempt to fix it resulted in an error that I don't want to have to deal with.
            The fact that jellyfish have survived for 650 million years despite not having brains gives hope to many people.

            You would have to be incredibly dense for the world to revolve around you.

            Comment


            • #7
              Try going to the Synaptics web site and download/install the latest toiuchpad drivers and utilities. You can install it regardless of who made the machine.
              There's no such thing as a stupid question... just stupid people.

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              • #8
                Generally speaking -- Just about anything in MSCONFIG's Startup tab can go. Services are another matter -- Have it hide anything from Microsoft (so they don't get disabled, as most of those ARE important), and just google any you're not sure about -- e.g. anything marked as a QuickStart or automatic updater (leave antivirus updaters alone tho) can generally be killed safely. The former is obsolete by a decade or more, and the latter is simply a convenience.

                Other general tips:

                Go to the following TWO folders and clean them out, once a month or so (press WIN+R to bring up the Run prompt for this). Just select all and delete. If it blocks any of the deletions, that's fine, just skip 'em.:

                TEMP and %TEMP%

                Make sure that your boot drive (normally C) doesn't fall below 30% free space. If it drops to 20%, the system will become nigh-unusable

                Set up a permanent swapfile (virtual memory) -- Change it to user-controlled settings, make sure it's present on the boot drive ONLY, and set both the minimum and maximum sizes to precisely the same size, at about 150% of your total system RAM (e.g. if you have 2GB RAM (2048MB)), set both to 3GB (3072MB)). Then reboot the system. It will be re-created the next time you reboot, and stick around after that (rather than the normal way, or deleting it on every shutdown and recreating it on every boot) -- Saves some disk fragmentation, too.

                Update and run full antivirus, antispyware, and ADWCleaner scans.
                Last edited by EricKei; 05-05-2016, 05:16 PM.
                "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
                "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
                "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
                Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
                "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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                • #9
                  Quoth It's me View Post
                  Try going to the Synaptics web site and download/install the latest toiuchpad drivers and utilities. You can install it regardless of who made the machine.
                  Tried that, but they don't have any specifically for Windows 8.1, just 8/7/XP/Vista and 10. I'm assuming the one for 8 will work but I'm not going to go fiddling with things I don't know about.

                  Quoth ErickKei View Post
                  Other general tips:
                  Strangely enough, I don't know much about drivers but I know how to do everything you just explained. Working on it now.
                  The fact that jellyfish have survived for 650 million years despite not having brains gives hope to many people.

                  You would have to be incredibly dense for the world to revolve around you.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Instead of deleting the problem file, move it to different folder. It that causes problems, move it back. If that doesn't cause problems. then it is not needed. Personally, I would just leave in the new location just in case it is ever needed.

                    An alternative approach is to rename it in such a way you know the original name. For example, rename xdriver.dll to xdriver-dll.bak.
                    "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

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                    • #11
                      A side note on ADWCleaner, for anyone with BHO/toolbar issues: ADWCLeaner is the only program I've yet used that can reliably get rid of Conduit/SearchProtect, a really pervasive BHO/trojan that tends to spread along networks. Even MalwareBytes seems to have trouble with it.
                      "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                      "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
                      "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
                      "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                      "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                      "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
                      Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
                      "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth Aragarthiel View Post
                        Tried that, but they don't have any specifically for Windows 8.1, just 8/7/XP/Vista and 10. I'm assuming the one for 8 will work but I'm not going to go fiddling with things I don't know about.
                        It should work for 8.1
                        Native German, so my writing might be a bit ... special. I try my best to get better

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                        • #13
                          Quoth Aragarthiel View Post
                          Tried that, but they don't have any specifically for Windows 8.1, just 8/7/XP/Vista and 10. I'm assuming the one for 8 will work but I'm not going to go fiddling with things I don't know about.
                          With it saying Windows 8 there it means it will work for all versions in that OS so you'll be fine updating them.
                          I AM the evil bastard!
                          A+ Certified IT Technician

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