5. Choosing Your Mouse Pointers
In Windows, the innocuous mouse pointer has many faces,
and each face tells something about the current way you are using the
mouse pointer. The three types of mouse pointers you see the most are
the Normal Select pointer, the Text Select pointer, and the Link Select
pointer. You can configure the appearance of these and other types of
mouse pointers and manage them collectively using pointer schemes. A pointer scheme is
a set of mouse pointers that you want to use together.
Windows 7 has 12 standard pointer schemes. The schemes you’ll use
the most are:
- (None)
This doesn’t turn mouse pointers off. Instead, it uses
nondescript pointers.
- Windows Aero
The standard pointers used with the Windows Aero experience.
Also comes in large and extra-large options.
- Windows Black
Inverts the pointer colors so that black backgrounds are
used instead of white backgrounds. Also comes in large and
extra-large options.
- Windows Standard
The standard pointers used with the Windows Standard user
experience. Also comes in large and extra-large options.
5.1. Selecting a mouse pointer scheme
You can configure your system to use an existing pointer scheme
by completing the following steps:
Right-click an open area of the desktop and then select
Personalize. (In Windows 7 Starter, select Control Panel→Hardware
and Sound.)
In the left pane, click the Change Mouse Pointers link to
display the Mouse Properties dialog box with the Pointers tab
selected, as shown in Figure 7. (In Windows 7 Starter, select Mouse
under Devices and Printers, then select the Pointers tab.)
Use the Scheme listbox to choose the pointer scheme to
use.
Click OK to save your settings.
5.2. Customizing your mouse pointer scheme
You can configure your system to use a customized pointer scheme
by completing the following steps:
Right-click an open area of the desktop and then select
Personalize. (In Windows 7 Starter, select Control Panel→Hardware
and Sound.)
Click the Mouse Pointers link to display the Mouse
Properties dialog box with the Pointers tab selected, as shown in
Figure 3-16. (In
Windows 7 Starter, select Mouse under Devices and Printers, then
select the Pointers tab.)
In the Customize list, pointers are organized according to
their type. To change a pointer, select the pointer and then click
Browse. This opens the Browse dialog box with the Cursors folder
selected. Choose the cursor pointer to use and then click
Open.
To save a changed pointer scheme, click Save As, type a name
for the scheme in the field provided, and then click OK.
Click OK to close the Mouse Properties dialog box.
