How to turn off the touch pad permanently?

The 17R Special Edition Owner's Manual shows how to disconnect the actual cable connecting the touchpad but, you might want to seek secondary confirmation from Dell that it would be "Okay" to run the laptop without it connected.

http://downloads.dell.com/Manuals/Common/inspiron-17r-se-7720_Owner%27s%20Manual_en-us.pdf

The documentation describes three (3) connector/cables for:  hot-key board, power button and touchpad

So, I am thinking if there is no way to disable the touchpad by itself in the BIOS, then physically disconnecting it from the motherboard might be an option.  I just checked a slightly different Dell model laptop and I do not see an option within the BIOS settings to disable the touchpad.

*** CAUTION, CAUTION, CAUTION ***

Always disconnect the A/C power adapter, remove the system battery and press and hold the power button for 15 to 30 seconds in order to insure all residual voltage is released from the system before disassembling any part of the outer cover (casing).

Also, opening the case "officially" with Dell may inspire them to make additional changes to the product line in the future which would potentially benefit many users; if an option to disable is added.

I didn't see the touchpad cable disconnect in this manual; is there another?

Excellent!

My wife has (probably) similar complaints on her different brand laptop as she is an avid online FB game player; it eases her migraine headaches - or distracts her from them.  So, good to know this about the touch-pad, I will probably disconnect hers tonight and see about fixing the power port connector as well.

(that's another "gadget" ripe for improvement - the port where the Alternating Current (A/C) power adapter connects.  Nobody makes them sturdy enough for everyday wear and tear, IMHO.  There is one vendor I know of with a "magnetic" style, or magnetically held connector that pops off if tugged to quickly, and on a laptop I think this is sheer genius.)

Thanks, I found it under touch-pad.  I disconnected the cable and it's running great.

Thomas7691, One thing to consider is although the Touch-pad may be working just fine with a 'Default' driver provided by Microsoft, if the Dell authored driver has not been downloaded and installed, the options for controlling the Touch-pad may be limited.

I definitely downloaded and installed the model-specific driver AFTER noticing the odd behavior on my laptop where the pointer would slowly "travel" to the upper-right corner of the desktop (window) all by itself.  As if it were running on auto-pilot or receiving input from some unseen hand...

After I installed the video, there are additional option showing up within the Windows Control Panel along with the "Mouse" settings.  This make it appears as if, as far as the Microsoft Windows O.S. is concerned, the Touch-pad and the Mouse are one-in-the-same device.  So, where you might suspect it would be easy or convenient to have a separate Control Panel icon dedicated to the Touch-pad, this would appear not to be the case.

If you have not checked out the drivers for the exact model then it is possible some finer Touch-pad behavior controls are not available (installed).  The drivers can be searched-up by the Service Tag of your laptop and remember there are MANY different choices of O.S. versions (Vista 32-bit, Vista 64-bit, Windows 7 32-bit, Windows 7 64-bit) and these may not be interchangeable!  In fact, I recommend paying close attention to the "View Details" information for the drivers because some have additional "Important" instructions regarding the installation steps.

I hope this helps.

I have the dell touch pad software installed, although it doesn't look like the one you have above.  After each reboot, I have to go into the software, make any kind of adjustment, then save it with touchpad on, then save as touchpad off.  This is a hassle because even after a reboot, it still shows it as off, but any movement on the touchpad works.  I am using a Logitech mouse and on those properties, it shows Setpoint, it does not show the dell touchpad properties.  I tried updating the touchpad driver updates, but it showed I already have the latest update.  I'll take a look under driver updates again for my version.

How can I get the screen you shown in your comments?

I want to disable the touchpad in my Dell... there is not a touchpad tab in controlpanel/mouse, there is not touchpad icon in my notification area, there is not synaptics folder in my All Programs, there is not touchpad icon in Device Manager, there is not synaptics service in Services control panel... how the heck do I disable the freaking touchpad???