Touchpad not working on Lenovo laptop.

Last night my daughter asked me if she could borrow my laptop to check her Facebook for five minutes.  She suddenly started complaining about the mouse being frozen.  I was not surprised because the Synaptics Alps touchpad on this lenovo notebook has always been a problem.  The problem is more with the sensitivity.  No matter how I adjust the settings, the pointer is too sensitive and ends up being somewhere else on the page from where I am typing.

That was not the problem my daughter was currently having, so after surfing the net for a few minutes, I found the solution.  If you have a similiar problem, try this before you spin your wheels looking for another driver or something more time consuming. It worked for me, like a charm.

There is a small touchad on the laptop right above the Pause/Break key on the top right hand side (right above Backspace key).  This touchpad turns the main mouse pad on and off.  It is to the right of the N 500 logo and the touchpads for the volume controls.  Push that and voila!  You now have an activated mouse!

I found this solution at this link:

http://www.fixya.com/support/t2621356-touchpad_not_wirking