"possessed" cursor

kingarhu

I have been having a strange problem for a while now and wonder if anybody can offer any opinions on the cause.
Every now and then when I am typing my cursor zips off into the distance and I have to press the ESC button to get it back. It can happen with emails or Word but it's particularly noticable when I am use MS Excel - ESC & HOME get it back to where it should be, but it's driving me mad. It's almost like the space bar is jammed, but I don't think that's what's causing it. Any ideas?

Ximian

What type of machine is it? A laptop? Does it have a touchpad or joystick in the middle of the keybooard?

kingarhu

It's an Advent lapto with a touchpad, but I am very careful to make sure I don't rest on it when I am typing.

busenbust

Does the problem occur only with a touchpad or also with an external mouse.

jaydeeuk1

Long shot, but you don't happen to have a mobile phone near the laptop do you, or in your pocket?

kingarhu

I don't usually use a mouse, just the keyboard. I do always have a mobile phone around the place though. Does that affect it?

[Deleted User]

By the cusor, I think you mean the text input cursor rather than the mouse arrow - is that correct?

Is your touchpad clean? I have seen dirty/greasy touchpads induce mouse movement by themselves before.

The mobile phone will not affect it.

You could also try a stuck key test, just in case it is that:
http://www.passmark.com/products/keytest.htm (this is 30-day trial software)
They keys may not be permanently stuck, but it does sound as though the computer sometimes thinks that a key is being pressed when it isn't. It could possibly be one of the arrow keys rather than the space bar.

When you say that pressing home brings it back, does that mean that the cursor only ever moves horizontally to the right?

Finally, have you run a virus scan recently? I have heard of viruses that do this.

kingarhu

Thanks for your help everyone.
Yes, it's the input cursor that's affected and it zips off to the right in Excel, or to the right and then down when it gets to the edge of the page in Word or emails. Everything is clean, but I will give the test a go. I have AVG at the moment but I might give Avira a go. I checked for malware yesterday but I don't know if it has helped. I was afraid that it might be a virus of some kind, but nothing has shown up and the fact that I haven't been inundated with people telling me that it's caused by such-and-such a virus is re-assuring.