stupid little mouse-stick thing on laptopFollow

Is there anyway to disable the little mouse-stick thing that's above my B key, and below and between the G and H keys, on my laptop? I never use it, don't like it, and if I hit it by accident it inevitably screws me up while typing. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you for the reply. However, the Device Usage is greyed out for the touchpad. Also, it sounds like this suggestion will disable both the touch pad and the little knob thing. I use the touch pad sometimes, and only want to disable the knob. Thanks again for whatever suggestions you can provide.