Disable Touchpad

To control/configure the Synpatics Touchpad install the following Touchpad Indicator applet:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install touchpad-indicator

Launch the Touchpad Indicator applet by clicking “Application Menu” then “Acessories” and finally “Touchpad-indicator”. Configure it and reboot.

See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticsTouchpad for more details.