I'm using a toshiba satellite i think, and the mouse pad has just stopped working for no reason and when I go into 'mouse' in control panel I can't set the pad as a default but would like to have the problem rectified as its not my laptop. Its a friends and I don't want to be yelled at... but I think no one likes to get yelled at. SO if you have an idea please help

I don't the solution but the first thing I would do is reboot. If still does not work, look in device manager for any errors. In the meantime, you should be able to plug in a mouse and use it instead.

I have acouple of times. rebooted I mean. and I have no idea what a device manager is. lol

You can access device manager in a couple ways - from Control Panel may be easiest. And from there, see if you have any errors. We don't know version of Windows you have but this should help: Explanation of error codes generated by Device Manager in Windows XP Professional