How do I turn off the mouse pad?

I have a ASUS X44H laptop, I'm using a corded mouse because I like it better; but the mouse pad is still active and anytime I type it 'ghosts' the mouse all over the screen & clicks off the box I'm typing in. Super annoying, makes it really difficult to type notes in class or write essays & emails. I looked in the device manager but I didn't see a way to disable it. Anyone know how I can turn it off?

I don't have a laptop to test this, but with luck you should find an option to do this from the following location:- Start Control Panel Mouse That will open the mouse's options\settings, now with that open, you should be able to easily find (assuming it's there that I can recall) an option to do this, there "MAY" be an option to auto switch when an external mouse is added, if that's so it's probably your safest option, because if you lock it totally off, and the external mouse breaks\fails, you will find it difficult to use the keyboard to navigate around, I know I do, but with luck you should be able to achieve your goal following this, hope it helps.

Read the manual. Many, if not most notebooks have a Function Key combo to enable/disable the "touchpad". On my Toshiba, it is Fn + F9.

Already tried going to the device manager & into preferences to try and turn off the keypad through settings; it doesn't have this option, so no dice. Also this is a used laptop so I don't have a manual….but I might be able to find one later on, I'll have to check around. For now, I have a piece of rubber mousepad backing taped to it. That works.

You had only mentioned trying the device manager, not the mouse - preferences, I'm surprised it has no option in there, but if you go HERE you can get the manual, depending how this link works, you may need to navigate yourself to the downloads, then select your OS, and you can get your manual in pdf form, but glad you found a makeshift way to do it lol.

Then inspect the F keys carefully. Notebook keyboards typically have small icons on them to illustrate their purpose. My F9 key has an image of a mouse, and a mouse in a circle with a line through it. It is very common for notebook users to use an attached mouse. I have never seen a notebook that did not make it easy to disable the touchpad WITHOUT having to go into the BIOS.

Good quote. Where's it from?

Good quote. Where's it from?

HERE

Thanks. I hope the Fn key option works. It would not be very "user-friendly" if ASUS forced users to disable via mouse settings or Device Manager for such a common problem - though not sure "problem" is the right word.