pointer stays as hourglass when not in use

Probably a change someone made at the control panel. Heres how to change it back:

1. Click start button.
2. Open the control panel.(In XP its on the right column in the middle)
3. In the middle there is a mouse icon, double click it.
4. At the top will be some choices, choose pointer.

From there you can see all the different pointer options. Yours is probably on hourglass, rather than regular select.

5. Click on regular select.
6. Click OK

Hope this helps.

V RAPTOR

Message Edited by V.Raptor on 10-03-2007 05:19 PM

Scanned for malware lately?

Something may be running in the background when system is idle, like Windows Indexing Service which indexes files on the hard drive for faster searches, or maybe your antiviral software is doing a scan.

When you move the mouse, does the pointer change back to the arrow (or whatever you use as 'normal' pointer)?

Try this:
click start>run
type in: msconfig
click OK
Click Startup tab and uncheck everything except items related to your mouse, monitor, firewall, and antiviral software. Reboot and put check in "Don't show this again" box. If that helps, then something loading at startup was running in background.

If pointer still changes to hourglass when idle, temporarily disable any scheduled antiviral scans (don't forget to re-enable). And if that isn't it, disable Windows Indexing Service (a non-essential Windows feature):
click start>run
type in: services.msc
click ok
Find "Indexing Service" on the list, right-click it and select Properties
On next screen, change Startup type to Manual. Do not change anything else!
Click ok and exit services.msc back to the desktop. Reboot.

Ron

Message Edited by RoHe on 10-03-2007 08:36 PM