Acer Aspire touchpad issue

[witch]

I was given this laptop because the touchpad was frozen. Initially I system restored it and it worked fine for a bit but then did it again.

So, I had a good look this time to find a laptop with no proper antivirus, full of rubbish and spyware. I couldn't run windows update as IE kept crashing and it seemed to be related to the frozen touchpad - every time IE was opened it happened and IE kept doing that "IE has stopped working" thing.

After extensive cleaning, malwarebytes, combofix, ccleaner, the lot, and an antivirus install and scan, it seemed a lot happier and worked perfectly all day yesterday.

Then the touchpad froze again and I cannot get it to unfreeze no matter what I do.

Has anyone any ideas as to what I can try next? I have looked for updated drivers on the Acer site but there aren't any for this breed of touchpad, it seems.

 

Originally an external mouse didn't work either but now it seems to which is something

Edited November 18, 2014 by witch

[this_is_gav]

If it's definitely a software issue, then copy the documents off it (remove any .exe files included), reinstall Windows from scratch, copy documents back on to it. Make sure you know the serial numbers for any software (Windows, Office, etc) before you wipe it.

 

Sometimes it's just quicker to reinstall Windows than it is to try and fix a software glitch, especially when malware is involved.

[difinity]

To determine hardware or software, boot from a Linux live cd. I've seen malware that infects drivers, so when virus cleaners are run the driver gets deleted.

Does the touchpad show up in device manager ?

[Oaktech]

I've had issues with acer touchpads before unrelated to any malware - they're just a bit rubbish. Try a standard windows mouse driver and see if it improves.

[witch]

I have booted from a Linux USB stick and all seems well. The driver shows up in Device Manager perfectly well.

Will try a standard mouse driver thanks