Taming a laptop mouse-pointer that jumps around

I have a Dell Studio 1555 laptop which has developed an infuriating habit. When typing, the cursor randomly repositions itself in previously entered text and I only become aware of its changed position when I look up to review what I have typed -- usually gobbledegook. I have tried to get help from Dell without success, and I have also sought advice from my IT manager at work but again without success. I have read that the only cure is to "re-image" the PC. Although I am reasonably PC literate, that process is beyond me. Eric Craigie This problem comes up quite often on the net, usually on PCs but sometimes on Macs, but almost never with any useful information. Typically people mention the brand of PC and the operating system, which makes the problem appear to be completely random and therefore beyond rational solution. To identify it as a fault, we really want to know the make and model of the mousepad, the version number of the software driver, and similar details. I'd not run into the problem because, for decades, I've used Toshiba Portégé and IBM ThinkPad laptops with pointing sticks (TrackPoint, PointStick etc) instead of mousepads

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Taming a laptop mouse-pointer that jumps around