Techno Tips n' Trixx

Liven up your desktop with Windows XP's animated pointer schemes

Windows XP has a variety of built-in animated pointer schemes. Here's how you can start using some of these little-known tricks. Note: This tip applies to both Windows XP Professional and Home.
Let's face it. There are times in every IT person's week when the urgent need for high-powered technical intelligence wanes a bit—especially on a slow Friday afternoon. Those are the times when technical prowess turns to such tasks as fine-tuning the advanced settings of the ultimate OpenGL 3D screen saver or other system tweaks. The next time you find yourself in this situation, why not investigate some of Windows XP's built-in animated pointer schemes?
Here's how.

1. Go to Start | Control Panel and double-click the Mouse tool to access the Mouse Properties dialog box.
2. Select the Pointers tab.
3. In the Scheme drop-down list, select a scheme from the list. (Keep in mind that not all of the pointer schemes in the list are animated, and some of the pointer schemes are designed for Windows Accessibility features.)
4. Once you select a pointer scheme, you can view the various animated pointers in that scheme by scrolling through the Customize list and selecting the pointer. When you do, you'll see the animation in a frame adjacent to the Scheme drop-down list.
5. Click OK.

If you wish, you can create your own animated scheme by double-clicking a pointer in the Customize list, selecting from one of the available pointers, and then clicking the Save As button in the Scheme panel and providing a unique name.