Problem
The tracking speed of the Synaptics trackpad/touchpad on your Lenovo laptop (mine is Yoga 2 Pro) is sometimes very fast and sometimes very slow. It seems to be switching between two “speed modes”.
Explanation
This is likely a bug in the Lenovo-branded Synaptics trackpad drivers, which are automatically installed through Windows Update whether you like them or not.
- On a side note, Lenovo’s trackpad driver doesn’t have trackpad-only tracking speed adjustment, whereas the stock Synaptics driver does. It allows changing the tracking speed for only the trackpad, on top of the global Mouse settings. I speculate this could be related to the bug.
Solution
The bug is avoided by installing the official/stock Synaptics trackpad driver from the Synaptics website. We also need to prevent Windows Update from “updating” the drivers to the OEM version.
- Download the stock Synaptics trackpad driver from synaptics.com/resources.
- Disconnect from the internet. (Important, to prevent Windows Update from messing stuff up)
- Uninstall the OEM trackpad driver in the “Programs and Features” control panel.
- Reboot.
- Install the stock Synaptics driver.
- Reboot.
- Follow this How-To Geek guide to prevent Windows Update from updating the drivers. (The stock Synaptics driver is actually newer anyway.)
- Turn your internet connection back on.
Did it solve your problem? Let me know in a comment below.