T61 -- Suddendly, mysteriously, a one fingered swipe on the trackpad causes all windows to tile

[Muse]

This has been going on now for about a week. A funny aspect of it is that it's not to-me obvious how to reproduce the behavior. I'm typing on the machine right now. Naturally, using the trackpad, when I want to move the cursor from one location to another I place one finger on the trackpad and slide it across the surface. This last week, occasionally when I do just that, the maximized application I'm working in (I typically work in my apps in a maximized window) suddenly disappears and all my open windows come to attention side by side as though a drill sergeant shouted "tennnnn-hut!" A tap of the ESC key brings me right back to former state, working in my maximized application. Of course, this is disconcerting. Not the worst problem, but I'd like it to stop. I wonder why it is happening. What changed? I didn't reconfigure anything. I'm running Windows 10 64bit on this machine. There may have been one of its automatic updates that made this change, I have no way of knowing. Mostly I don't do anything fancy with the trackpad, just move the cursor around, I don't even use it for scrolling, normally, but I suppose I should. The machine:

Lenovo product ID 6465CTO
Lenovo ThinkPad T61
Intel Core 2 Duo @2.40GHz, T7700
Memory 8GB
640GB HD
VGA Intel 965 Express GMA X3100 128MB
Display WSXGA + TFT 15.4' resolution 1680x1050
Intel Ultimate-N 6300 633ANHMW WiFi Wireless Card
Windows 10 64bit

[RealBlackStuff]

Once you have W10 installed, you have absolutely NO say in whatever Micro$haft wants to do.
Learn to live with it (or dump them, as discussed elsewhere).

[BigT0ny]

As fun as it is to bash Windows 10, I think it may have to do with the multi-touch settings on the touch/trackpad? I reckon your TP driver was changed my M$. Maybe try re-installing, or even uninstalling the TP driver and see how it goes.

[ajkula66]

I reckon your TP driver was changed my M$.

That would be my guess as well.

Maybe try re-installing, or even uninstalling the TP driver and see how it goes.

If the presumption above is the correct one, uninstalling the driver will be a waste of time since the next batch of WU will re-install it. And there's absolutely nothing that one can do about it, short of nuking the OS.

This is one of the main reasons why people "bash" W10. Forced updates are sheer poison no matter how much MS tries to sweeten them with all the eye candy that the aforementioned OS brings to the table...

[NonesensE]

If the presumption above is the correct one, uninstalling the driver will be a waste of time since the next batch of WU will re-install it. And there's absolutely nothing that one can do about it, short of nuking the OS.

There is. You can deactivate automatic driver update. Yes, with the big update packages (Anniversary et cetera), it may be activated again, but the regular update packages won't touch the driver anymore.

[ajkula66]

If the presumption above is the correct one, uninstalling the driver will be a waste of time since the next batch of WU will re-install it. And there's absolutely nothing that one can do about it, short of nuking the OS.

There is. You can deactivate automatic driver update. Yes, with the big update packages (Anniversary et cetera), it may be activated again, but the regular update packages won't touch the driver anymore.

It seems that it's not just "big update packages" from what I'm seeing here:

Note that your hardware drivers may still be updated by Windows Update in some situations. Driver updates may be bundled with security updates or feature updates, according to Microsoft’s documentation.

Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/302595/how-to ... e-drivers/

At this point in the game, my take is that OP should take a look at drivers and settings and try to verify which aspect exactly has changed. If it's indeed a driver update that had triggered this unwanted behaviour in the first place, he can do his own research on what needs to be done on his part to prevent this situation from happening again.

In other words: I'm absolutely not interested in turning this topic into another "W10 pro et con" discussion.

[Muse]

The crazy thing is it doesn't happen all the time, just occasionally, seemingly as a result of the same type of finger swipe across the trackpad that at other times doesn't cause the behavior.

It's been suggested that I can turn off some or all of the fancy features of trackpad, with the exclusion of cursor movement, I presume. I haven't tried that although I had a peak in the mouse settings.

I am indeed starting to think about going back to Windows 7 on my two Windows 10 Thinkpads.

I'm wondering if I can't just multiboot, do a secondary installation alongside Windows 10.

I'm also wondering if I can install Windows 7 32bit on this Windows 10 64bit machine. The install disk I have for Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit doesn't include the 32bit version, but I do have a Windows 7 32bit installation disk. Of course that has a different key than the Windows 7 64bit Ultimate disk. The reason I want to install the 32 bit version is that I have a program that won't run on 64bit Windows that I like to use fairly frequently. Right now, I have to go to another machine to use it.

[RealBlackStuff]

If 64-bit runs on it, then 32-bit definitely also will.
It just won't use all the memory if there is more than 4GB.

[Muse]

If 64-bit runs on it, then 32-bit definitely also will.
It just won't use all the memory if there is more than 4GB.

That I knew. What I'm concerned about is the licensing. I have a valid legal Win7 64bit Ultimate disk with key. Can I install Win7 32bit on the machine using a Win7 32bit disk with a different key but use the key on the Win7 64bit Ultimate disk to authenticate? I really don't want to shell out ~$150 in order to go to 32bit instead of 64bit Win7 on this machine. Or maybe I can download the 32bit install from MS or something for free on this machine? Or maybe I'm limited to 64bit on it unless I shell out some cash.

[RealBlackStuff]

With Middleton's BIOS you can use any Lenovo W7 Recovery diskset.
A COA that came with a bought W7 is only valid for that exact same type of W7 (Home, Pro, Ultimate, etc.).
You might get lucky with 32 or 64 bit of the same type, don't know.

[Muse]

With Middleton's BIOS you can use any Lenovo W7 Recovery diskset.
A COA that came with a bought W7 is only valid for that exact same type of W7 (Home, Pro, Ultimate, etc.).
You might get lucky with 32 or 64 bit of the same type, don't know.

The COA on the machine (sticker on bottom) is for Vista Business, don't remember if it was 32 or 64 bit.

I have a Win7 recovery disk set that's 32bit. The machine has the Middleton BIOS. Wonder if the 32bit Windows would install and authenticate.

Or I could install fresh from my Win7 64bit Ultimate disk, I presume. I also have (pretty sure) a backup of that OS before I did the Win10 upgrade.