A new way to touch your hardware.
The Windows 10 Creators Update is slated for release in Spring 2017. As discussed previously, it includes a number of features targeted at creative professionals including 3D features in Paint, Office and more, more powerful video game streaming options, and faster ways to communicate with people.
These are, of course, the big, bold features that Microsoft discussed at the event they held several weeks ago. There are a number of smaller, but perhaps equally useful features that are only emerging now.
One such feature is a virtual, on-screen trackpad. Microsoft is billing it as a way to move the point on a second screen while connected with a tablet. This means you won’t need to attach a mouse for moving the pointer when connecting your Windows 10 tablet with an external display.
How to enable the built-in virtual touchpad in Windows 10
To turn on the on-screen touchpad on your Windows 10 tablet/hybrid, simply press and hold on the taskbar and select the Show touchpad button option when it shows up. This will – you guessed it – show a touchpad button in the system tray. You can tap on that to show the actual virtual touchpad.
By default, the touchpad is shown in the bottom-right corner. It doesn’t show any customization options right there. You need to launch the Settings app and go to Devices > Touchpad to customize it.
The virtual touchpad works as expected. It looks like a big black surface which you can touch to move the pointer. It has two separate touch-areas at the bottom for left-click and right-click respectively. A ‘x’ button at the top-right corner lets you close it without using the icon in the system tray.
Third-party developers have made virtual touchpad apps for Windows for quite sometime. If you aren’t using Windows 10 Insider Build 14965 or can’t wait for the Creators Update to release before you use it, check out apps like Touch Mouse Pointer or Unified Remote to get similar functionality today.
I myself have never really required such functionality. I did once install an app on my old Android phone to use its touchscreen as a touchpad for my desktop computer but it wasn’t a good experience.
(via Windows Blogs)
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