I am using a Dell Latitude E6520, with a pointstick. I've tried disabling the pointstick, and disabling tap-to-click on the pointstick within the Dell touchpad control panel (screenshot below), but every time my machine reboots, the pointstick and tap-to-click are re-enabled. How can I permanently disable the pointstick, or at the very least the tap-to-click? 
How to permanently disable the Dell Pointstick
dell-latitudemouse
Best Answer
Go into msconfig, hit the startup tab, and check for a disabled option called "Alps Pointing-device Driver". Reenable that, and your pointing device settings should become sticky.
Worked for me, anyway!
I think this is specific to the custom image that gets rolled out where we work. I'd guess a vanilla Dell laptop doesn't have this disabled.