I am using Windows XP, laptop is ITC:
I am having trouble disabling the mouse on the laptop. I have tried going through the Control Panel. I.e: Control Panel - Mouse - Hardware - Properties, however under the selection for the laptop mouse, the disable property is not highlighted. It is highlighted for the external USB mouse which I can disable, just not the laptop mouse. Any suggestions, most appreciated!!! Disable USB mouse....why not unplug it?CARBON, I think you've got the wrong end of the stick.
What gjohnston is saying is that they can only disable the USB mouse, not the laptop's touchpad, I think.
gjohnston, that's not a good way to disable the laptop pad anyway, because you MAY well need to USE it some day.  Look for any options under Control Panel/Mouse or Synaptics that let you disable the mouse.  Unfortunately this feature is not available on all laptops.
If you can't FIND it, please post the full make/model number of the laptop and we'll try and help you find out how to do it.

Welcome to the forums.The OP will need to download the Synaptics (or whatever manufacturer) touchpad utility from his laptop manufactuer's website.  From there, open the utility and find an option that says something LIKE "Disable touchpad when USB mouse is plugged in."

Alternatively, there might be something like that in the BIOS.