For Anyone Having Touchpad Problems in Windows 10

For a month now, I have been trying to get the "Windows 10 drivers" available at the Dell download site to work with my Inspiron 11.  They will not.  Yesterday (8/31/15) the howtogeek.com website published an article, "How to Use and Configure Windows 10's Gestures on a Laptop Touchpad," here:

http://www.howtogeek.com/227073/how-to-use-and-configure-windows-10%E2%80%99s-gestures-on-a-laptop-touchpad/

The article explains how not all touchpads will have the enhanced features that were available to them with Windows 8.1, after upgrading to Windows 10.  The article references (with links) two Microsoft Hardware Development Center bulletins issued for Windows 8.1:  "Legacy Touchpad PC Settings Opt-In," and "Legacy Touchpad Forced Detection."  These describe Registry changes that would allow third-party software (such as Synaptics) to control non-Windows Certified touchpads.

Note in particular this section in the How-to-Geek article:

"You can’t just enable this feature by installing a new driver. Your PC’s manufacturer must have met Microsoft’s precision touchpad specification and been certified by Microsoft. This specification was introduced in Windows 8.1, so some PCs that have upgraded to Windows 10 will be able to use these features. Windows 8.1 Update 2 added some more features."

"Why the restrictions? Well, Apple can control exactly which touchpads are in a MacBook and ensure they all work properly with gestures, but Microsoft can’t control which touchpads are used in Windows PCs. Historically, many touchpads in Windows PCs have been of poor quality. While they work okay for moving the cursor around, they wouldn’t necessarily be capable of providing accurate data about multi-finger gestures. This also ensures those trackpads don’t “misfire” and accidentally trigger gestures when you’re just trying to move the cursor around."

"Microsoft doesn’t require PC manufacturers provide a “precision touchpad,” so not all Windows 10 PCs will have one."

So, unless Dell can come up with a workaround like the one for Windows 8.1, which will force Windows 10 to detect their non-conforming Synaptics touchpads, and allow the Dell/Synaptics drivers and touchpad interface software to run, a lot of Dell customers (like me) might end up being stuck with the most *** touchpad you can own, with NO features enabled whatsoever!

If that ends up being the case, I'll have no alternative but to buy a wireless mouse and just disable the *** touchpad, which is still under warranty, btw.  The thing is worse than useless, it is downright dangerous!  It is liable to do anything at anytime--go into selection mode, grab folders in File Explorer, click buttons as it moves over them, and constantly moves the insertion point around while I'm typing text.

I have a support ticket currently open, but Dell seems to be convinced (or pretending to be convinced) that their "new" Windows 10 drivers will work.

What do you think?

Michael Young