There's all kinds of BS on Google search of how to do this and none of it works. One even said to toggle it off and on by pressing the Function key and F6 or F7. I almost wore those keys out trying to do this.
For some reason tonight I got a notion to try Alt F6, low and behold it works and toggles off and on with a Gateway laptop using windows 8.1

Hope this helps some lost soul about to lose their mind.

I just bought a Surface Pro 2 with 8.1 Windows, and am curious about the need to turn off touch screen. Does it interfere with something ? Just wondering.

Bernie, my only problem with a touch pad is where they are situated - right where I can inadvertently touch it while typing. I'm an old school typist and always rest my hands just below the keys while typing, something I began doing while employed as an outdoor writer. When you spend most of the day typing thousands upon thousands of words, resting your hands just below the keys makes life a lot easier.

Cheers,

Gary

Touch Pad on/off has nothing to do with the OS, the controls are decided by the manufacture of the equipment. (Normally a key combination)

You can also usually do it from Control Panel under mouse and pointing options (Locate the touchpad option) or if not then have a look on the manufactures website for details.

Hope this helps

Bill

I have the same problem with my Asus laptop. I found I couldn't shut off the touch pad. I found out I needed to update the touch-pad drivers, which in turn allows me to kill the pad.

Some how mine got turned off and I don't have a clue how it happened. So, I wanted to turn it back on.

Gary, they are talking about touch SCREEN, not touch pad. You are getting really old and senile.

Don, I'm talking about my touchpad, man.

boo,

Function(FN) key plus F9 key toggles the touch pad.

Billyshank, that doesn't work on my Gateway with Windows 8. Only Alt F6 "TOGGLES" my "TOUCHPAD" "OFF" and "ON."