Symptoms

Shortly after starting Windows the Synaptics touchpad on my laptop stops working.

Cause #1

You accidentally pressed a key to lock the touchpad.  When Windows starts it loads a Hotkeys driver (= special function keys typically found on laptops) that allow you to change the brightness of the laptop screen, or the audio volume of the speakers.  There is also a hotkey to lock the touchpad.  When Windows starts the touchpad will initially work for a few seconds or so, until the Hotkey driver software is loaded into memory and locks the touchpad.

Solution #1

Press F5 to lock/unlock the touchpad.

Alternatively press simultaneously Fn+F5 or Ctrl+F5 (or Fn + F9 or Ctrl+F9 on some models).

Cause #2

The touchpad is stuck in scroll mode.

Solution #2

Swipe on the touchpad from right to left. This should bring up a sidebar on the right hand side of the screen and show the time and date in Windows 8.  The touchpad should now work properly again.

Symptoms

My computer is extremely slow.  The computer locks up after if has completely started up.  The Start Menu does not open and launching programs does not work.  There is a spinning cursor when I move my mouse pointer over the Taskbar.

Cause

There are a number of possible causes.   There are a few things you can chek that will improve performance.

Solution

You may want to check the following:

• (!) Disable Superfetch and Windows Search services ( [Win]+[R] + “services.msc” )
• Remove and re-install Antivirus software.  Windows 8/10 comes with Microsoft Defender.
• Recently installed software.
• Automatic update settings.  You may want to disable installing recommended updates and install security updates only (by user prompt only rather than automatic).
• Run a hard disk health check: chkdsk.exe /f /r
• Check your internet browser add-ons
• Check Task Scheduler and automatic startup of programs using the Autoruns utility.

netsh mbn show interfaces
netsh mbn show radio
netsh mbn show signal
netsh mbn show readyinfo