Can not get to touchpad settings on toshiba satelite A350

Adjusting the touchpad sensitivity on a Gateway laptop lets you fix and prevent annoying touchpad problems.
Often the touchpad is accidentally brushed while typing, which causes the cursor to move out of place.
Or you may find yourself having to tap too hard or too often on the touchpad to open windows and programs.
These problems can be fixed by simply adjusting the touchpad's sensitivity settings.
Click the "Start" button and double-click "Control Panel."
Double-click "Hardware & Sound" and choose "Mouse" to open the mouse properties box.

Choose the "Device Settings" tab. Highlight "Synaptic Touchpad" in the Devices box by clicking on it. Click the "Settings" button underneath the Devices box.
Choose "Sensitivity" in the properties settings box.
Click "PalmCheck" to adjust the sensitivity of the touchpad to accidental brushes against the pad while typing, which causes the cursor to move.
Click and hold the pointer to adjust the setting on the sensitivity scale.

Click "Touch Sensitivity" to adjust the sensitivity of the touchpad to tapping.
Click and hold the pointer to adjust the setting on the sensitivity scale.
A higher rating on the scale means less tapping pressure will be needed.

Click "OK" to save your touchpad settings.

Have you loaded your touchpad drivers? The only time I've ever seen than happen is when the touchpad drivers aren't loaded. The touch is extra sensitive if your palm(s) just barely touch the pad.

By loading the touchpad drivers, you should be all set

1.Turn on the computer and log into Windows as normal. Open the "Start" menu and click on the option labeled "Control Panel."
2.Double-click on the icon labeled "Mouse.". The "Mouse Properties" window will open. Navigate to the tab labeled "Device Settings." Click on the button labeled "Settings." A window labeled "Properties" will appear.
3.Examine the left panel of the "Properties" window and expand the option labeled "Sensitivity." Click on the option labeled "Touch Sensitivity."
4.Reduce the touch sensitivity setting by moving the slider to the right, towards the "Heavy Touch" label. Experiment with different levels of sensitivity until you find one suited to your needs.
5.Click on the button labeled "OK" to close the "Properties" window; repeat with the "Mouse" control panel. Your new touchpad sensitivity settings are now saved.

Are you relatively new to this laptop?

I'm asking, because I suspect that you suffer from the same problem many laptop users have, namely too sensitive touchpad. I myself had this problem with one or two laptops...
When you keep your hands low and parallel to the keyboard, it sometimes happens that when moving the hand slightly to reach keys in the upper keyboard regions, the base of your thumb just barely touches the touchpad, resulting in moving the cursor :) The base of a thumb is protruding lower than the thumb itself, and is not very sensitive to touch, so one does not feel the base barely sliding up the touchpad.
There are two solutions.
First is to go to touchpad settings, and make it less sensitive to light touch. Better yet, some touchpad drivers have a function to prevent from accidental dragging objects by light touch, which needs to be enabled.
If the driver lacks such adjustments, the only remedy is to try and position the hands a bit higher than you currently do. It may be hard at first, but it's relatively easy to form a habit of it :)
Good luck :)

This issue could be due to corrupt Touchpad drivers or corrupt Touchpad sensitivity settings or corrupt BIOS settings. To isolate this issue, please perform the steps provided below: 1. Uninstall and reinstall touchpad driver on the notebook. 2. Decrease the Touch Sensitivity of the Touchpad. If you are using Windows Vista on your notebook then you can follow the steps listed below for decreasing the touch sensitivity of the touchpad: a. Click Start and type ?Mouse? without quotes in Search field. b. Click on Mouse from the results list. c. This will open d. Click on Tapping tab in the Mouse Properties window. e. Click the Touch Sensitivity Button to launch Touchpad settings. f. Move the slider to the desired setting (in between Light touch to Hard touch) This will adjust the Touch sensitivity of the touch pad. Now check for the issue. 3. If the issue persists, then update BIOS on your notebook. To update BIOS, go to the HP drivers download page for your notebook model and then download and install the latest available BIOS update.

There should be settings in the touch pad software on your machine or in the task bar that you can directly access to change all manner of personal idiosyncrasies related to HID. (Human interface device) Try also going into the control panel and looking for input devices, mouse, touchpad and adjusting the settings from within there.

When I have seen this happen, the touch pad was set overly sensitive. When you are typing, your palm may be moving the cursor. If this happens at other times, then this can be corrected in the control panel. Go there and click on touch pad. It will have settings to set the sensitivity for the mouse pad, speed, double click/single, etc. You can change the settings to be more suited to your hands.

FYI: Older laptops were more susceptible to touchpad errors and I have even seen the area on either side of the touchpad to cause the mouse cursor to move and jump.

Good Luck

You could try adjust the touchpad settings. Sometimes there is a touchpad icon in the taskbar that you can right click on to adjust the properties. You can also disable the pad and use a USB mouse instead.

I have seen this before.

Either you are touching the touchpad with your palms as you type, or the touchpad is set to be very sensitive. Either way, you should reduce the sensitivity of the touchpad. Go into the control panel, and go into the mouse properties. On the hardware tab, you should be able to find advanced properties and the sensitivity adjustment. Move the slider to the left to reduce sensitivity. If you stroke the pad very very gently with your finger, the cursor should not move at all. adjust sensitivity until this happens.

Reduce the sensitivity until the cursor stops jumping. This will fix it. :)

Check settings of your touchpad in control panel. U need to to adjust the sensitivity. If you cant find it, then download a touchpad utility. U need to check in device manager what brand of touchpad u have. It might be an ALPS or SYNOPTICS. u can download it from support.toshiba.com for US model or at toshiba.ca/support for a canadian model. Have a nice day.