need to disable laptop touchpad completely: 80+ year old debian user touches it by accident

[Mitchell Laks <mlaks@verizon.net>]

Hi,

My dad is an avid Debian user (ok i installed it).

During the summer,  Dad is using my sony vaio grx560 laptop. and he finds that 
he accidentally touches the "touchpad" all the time. 

Then the mouse moves all over the place and messes up his typing, moving 
letters and creating havoc.

I installed a separate usb mouse. 

So how do I turn off the touchpad completely. 

I have tried playing with tpconfig and mouseemu, but doesnt seem to stop it 
from working.

The settings on the program tpconfig don't seem to include 
"turn the sucker off completely".

I had the idea of removing whatever kernel module works the touchpad. Can I do 
that and still use the usb mouse I stuck in?

Mitchell