Windows 10 laptop - Suddenly every few minutes all open apps go to tiles

[Muse]

What's up with this? I suppose I inadvertently did something that activated a setting. I'm on a Win10 laptop and typing and all of a sudden the open app disappears. I almost always have the app I'm giving attention to maximized. I touch something (I have no clue what!), and the app I was typing info into disappears and I see all my open apps arranged like tiles on a wall (i.e. in 2 or 3 rows) in small windows. Every single time this has happened (it's been 2 or 3 days now), I've hit ESC and I'm back where I was, with the app I was dealing with maximized. It must have happened 15-20 times already in 2 to 3 days. What's afoot and how can I stop this insanity?

 

[Dahak]

Well there is a feature called Task View, by default there is an icon on the task bar that looks like a square with [ ] around it.
It can also be activated by the WinKey + Tab.
Although I cannot see how you would be hitting that combo alot in a single day

Some googling found that by default a gesture on the trackpad can do this as well
--Three-finger swipe up Task View. Swipe down with three fingers to close Task View.

It could be that when you move you hand over the trackpad it thinks that is a three finger scroll.

You can check in the Settings panel to turn it off or the trackpad settings.

(I dont have a win10 laptop handy to look extactly where )

 

[mpo]

Windows key + left or right arrow will also trigger this function.

 

[Muse]

Yeah, I think it has to do with the trackpad. I wasn't comfortable using it for a few years and used a USB mouse for a long while even with a laptop on my lap. Nowadays, however, I only use the trackpad when a laptop is on my laptop (like right now... I'm lying in bed). However, this Lenovo T61 has some fancy trackpad features that I don't understand, have never bothered to bone up on them. I can do what I want to do without them. However, if I knew what they are I might really like them and use them.

Anyway, I have to think that some trackpad function that wasn't working before is suddenly working and flipping the table upside down (restaurant metaphor!). This happened yesterday and moving my finger the other way on the trackpad had the same effect as hitting ESC (i.e. bringing back the window I was working in full screen)!

I'm pretty sure I haven't been doing any kind of 3 fingered swipe on the trackpad. I don't do that stuff. Somehow I think it's a single finger thing going on. Max two.

Guess I should look for those trackpad settings to figure this one out.

Windows key + left or right arrow will also trigger this function.

I just tried those. The first changes the front window to 1/2 it's size, placing it on the left and leaving the other apps the same (i.e. in most cases, full screen). The second places the current window in 1/2 size but on the right and all the other windows in tiles on the remaining portion of the screen (i.e. the left half).

I never knew about that task view icon in the tray. I just tried it (clicking it). It does exactly the same thing as what I'm experiencing here (evidently).

How To Turn On or Off Touchpad Gestures In Windows 10

I just tried a bunch of 3 fingered gestures on this trackpad and nothing happened at all. Hmm.

Microsoft has introduced a bunch of new touchpad gesture with Windows 10. These new touchpad gestures allow you quickly switch between running apps, open task view, open Cortana, and perform many other jobs by simply moving two or more fingers on your laptop’s touchpad.

I just tried swiping this way and that with 1, 2 and 3 fingers and nothing's happening at all.

The only thing that seems to work is swiping up/down at the right edge of the trackpad to scroll up/down. That's the one trackpad gesture with which I was familiar, although I don't usually use it. I haven't mastered it's peculiarities.

It just happened again. I am 99% sure it was just one finger on the trackpad and AFAIK I didn't do anything special. Just touched the touchpad and boom!

 

[Dahak]

There could be thinkpad specific settings that you should be able to get to from the Control Panel -> Mouse.
There is usually a tab at the end that should allow you to change these settings.

Here is a lenovo support doc that shows some of the different trackpad settings windows
https://support.lenovo.com/mn/en/solutions/ht075745

Most of them have an option to turn on or off the certain features.

 

[Muse]

I just duplicated the behavior. I was typing in this text box. I placed my right index finger on the trackpad and dragged to the right and boom! All open windows went to identical sized tiles. Hitting ESC brings me back where I was just before the action.

The behavior isn't obviously consistent. I think it depends on the state of the laptop, for instance what has focus in the window. It doesn't always happen. I don't know what's at play there, why it happens sometimes and not others. But it's definitely a one finger swipe action. It just doesn't always happen! I rebooted the machine, in case it was a temporary setting but it's still happening. Never saw this before a few days ago, though.

I looked in mouse settings yesterdy and saw a lot of stuff. It's confusing. There's a video there but when I go to run it I invariably get an error implicating a Windows DLL.

 

[Dahak]

There is also a TrackPad, in the Setting App as well. you might be able to turn it off there.
It sounds like there is a hitbox zone for that area and you should be able to delete or turn it off