Microsoft Fixes Year-Old Flaw with Surface Pro's Palm Rejection

Surface Pro owners have been complaining about the Surface Pen's performance for more than a year, and Microsoft has finally done something about it. Specifically, the company rolled out a firmware update that appears to solve a palm-recognition problem plaguing Surface devices.

The fixes come in Surface Firmware 429.0.1.10 and the Surface System update 1.16.139.0, which you can download via Windows Update (click the Start button, click the Settings icon and click Updates & Security).

Surface Pen owners have been begging for a solution to an issue that takes place while drawing on the Surface Pro after first placing your hand against the screen. On July 28, 2017, Microsoft forum poster IanHoover posted a video of his experience, which took place with his "brand new" 2017 Surface Pro and Pen.

In his post, IanHoover wrote "About 50 percent of the time, if I begin a stroke with my hand already resting on the screen, there is a significant offset of the pen line to the actual tip position. This makes hand-writing nigh impossible." The stylus' calibration tools didn't help either. "If I calibrate to correct the offset," he continued, "then 50 percent of the time it is now offset in the other direction."