mouse and lid

[Erik Schmidt]

ok, so I have two laptop specific questions:

a) is there a way to speed up my laptop trackpad?  I turned up
sensitivity, but the mouse still moves really slow, I have to plug in an
external mouse to get anything done

b) Is there a way to specify what happens when I close my laptop lid?
As of now, it shuts down.  I would like to be able to close my lid, and
then open it back up and not have to boot back up

TIA

~Erik