This tutorial applies to the Microsoft Windows XP operating system. If you have Windows 98 or ME please follow this older tutorial.
Many users can struggle to find the mouse pointer on the screen, especially when it is not in motion.
You can enable a setting so that whenever the Ctrl key is pressed the mouse pointer is highlighted with targeting circles for about one second. In addition to trying this you might want to change the pointer size or colour, download my high-viz cursor set or enable pointer trails.
Here's how to enable pointer this feature on your Windows XP computer:
Open up the Windows Control Panel by going to Start and selecting Control Panel from the menu.
If there is no Control Panel in your Start Menu then your school's technician or network administrator has stopped you from being able to access it!
Windows Key, Arrow Keys (to select Control Panel), Enter
Within the Control Panel, locate the 'Mouse' icon and double-click it to open the Mouse options.
If you struggle with double-clicking then you can click on it once to highlight it, and then press the enter key to open it.
M (until Mouse is highlighted), ENTER
Click on the Pointer Options tab at the top of the Mouse Options dialog
Under the Visibility section enable the tickbox next to 'Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key'.
Click OK and try it out by pressing:
CTRL
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