Question: I own a Dell Inspiron N5050 Notebook running Windows 7 Home Premium. I am trying to permanently disable the touchpad. I installed the appropriate driver in order to manage my touchpad preferences, and successfully disabled it - but once the machine was rebooted, the touchpad was on again. I really don't care if I will need to keep disabling it each time I boot up, but does anyone know of a way to permanently disable it?

Answer: 
`![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/T0oPO.png) (Win)`+`X` opens the "Windows Mobility Center". 
On my Dell Inspiron (running Windows 7), it looks like this:

![Windows Mobility Center](https://i.stack.imgur.com/g1gyR.png)

I disabled my touchpad there, and it has stayed disabled through many reboots.
You asked just the right guy! I have an N5050 with an MS3500 USB mouse. To avoid physical alterations install both MS mouse and keyboard center 2.3.180.0 and Dell Touchpad driver by Alps electric 7.1107.115.102. Go to control panel click mouse and look for a touchpad tab. If not there something is missing. Click touchpad and go to buttons. Disable both buttons and touchpad. Click disable when USB mouse is present.