Windows XP in a Nutshell

Name

Mouse Properties

Synopsis

Change settings that affect the behavior of your pointing device and the appearance of the mouse cursor.

To Open

Control Panel → [Printers and Other Hardware] → Mouse

Command Prompt → control main.cpl

Command Prompt → control mouse

Description

The Mouse Properties dialog controls the buttons and motion of your pointing device and the appearance of the various mouse cursors, such as the arrow and hourglass. Settings are distributed into the following sections:

Buttons

The three settings on this page allow you to switch the left and right mouse buttons (useful for southpaws or those with unusual pointing devices), change the speed at which items respond to double-clicks, and control the ClickLock feature (which enables dragging without having to hold down any buttons).

Pointers

The Pointers tab lets you choose how your mouse pointer looks. This affects not only the standard arrow cursor, but the hourglass, the arrow/hourglass combination, all of the resize arrows, and even the hand cursor used in Internet Explorer. Cursors that ship with Windows are stored in the \Windows\Cursors folder and additional cursors are available on the Internet from such web sites as http://www.anicursor.com/. You can also get a cursor editor, allowing you to create your own static and animated mouse pointers (try AX-Cursors, at http://www.axialis.com/axcursors/, or Microangelo, at http://www.impactsoftware.com)(see Figure 4-55).

Figure 4-55. Choosing custom mouse pointers can ...