Cursor/Pointer erratic and freezes

Question

I have a new (less than a year old) Dell insperion laptop with a touch screen.

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10510U CPU @ 1.80GHz 2.30 GHz

Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.8 GB usable)

System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Pen and touch Pen and touch support with 10 touch points

I have been having problems ever since I installed office 365 when the laptop was 3 days old. I have had the dell service person come to my office and check the computer out. No problems with hardware but the problem persisted. Just three days ago I spent over 2 hours on line with microsoft tech support. They took control of the computer and changed my email accounts and said that will fix the problem. It fixed some issues I was having with outlook but it didnt fix the pointer issue. However, with any microsoft app open (Specifically Outlook) the pointer freezes while moving it across the screen or trying to cut/paste, or copy. It is impossible to "drag" something by highlighting as it will freeze and drop the item where it freezes. The problem persists when on line using google chrome or microsoft Edge but primarily only when any office app is open. It does not happen all the time but enough to make a person extremely irritated and with the microsoft apps open the problem is across the board. After closing anything such as outlook, chrome, Adobe or any thing else, the pointer will freeze until the app has completely closed and the computer has "stopped" processing the last command of closing the application or document as in word. In my opinion it is acting like the touchpad has an extremely low priority when it comes to processing and it seems like the pointer is freezing because something else is using the resources of the laptop. I have been unable to find anything relating to the touch pad in task manager. I was going to try changing the priority but could find nothing.

I have updated drivers, removed and reinstalled the touch pad through device manager. Updated computer and updated anything that can be updated. I have not tried a usb mouse as I dont own one. I have tried all of the online troubleshooting options I could find then even updated to windows 11 thinking there was something wrong with windows. Touch screen has never had an issue and works fine but trying to do "office things" doesnt work very well.

I am not a computer IT person but I know a little and the little I know has not been enough. I hope someone can help me out before I smash this laptop against the wall. I will try to open the computer in safe mode to see if the issue persists and will reply with results. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

As stated in the original question, all updates have been done at least twice. That includes microsoft and Dell. I bought the laptop so I wouldnt have to use an external device such as the mouse. Not very practicle when using the laptop on jobsites and in vehicles.

Answer 2

There will be a Dell shortcut on your PC to check for Dell updates, so use it, otherwise Dell support specific to your Dell Tag# to obtain updates

Personally I purchased and use a usb mouse on any laptop, I find it gives me more control with my "fat fingers"