# Changing cursor colour in Windows XP

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-cursor-colour-in-windows-xp/444891>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 11, 2008, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-cursor-colour-in-windows-xp/444891 "2008-04-11T14:01:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bert\_Nobbins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@Bert\_Nobbins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bert_Nobbins)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-cursor-colour-in-windows-xp/444891/1 "2008-04-11T14:01:59Z")

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Back in the old days of Windows 3.1, I had a nifty little program that changed the pointing cursor to any colour you liked. Bright red was my choice as it stood out nicely in most cases.

Is there a way to do that in XP? I have looked at lots of free offerings on the Web, but have yet to find a simple colour-change of the standard pointer.  
The Control Panel-\>Mouse-\>Pointers options doesn’t have what I want.

I know (or think I know) the cursor is a .ICO file- can I edit it in Paintshop, or will that turn my computer into a smouldering ruin? I’d have to find it first, of course, and having just run a \*.ICO search on the whole hard disk, I haven’t found the collection of Windows system pointers I was expecting.

Any help would be much appreciated.

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**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-cursor-colour-in-windows-xp/444891/2 "2008-04-11T15:36:04Z")

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I think they call them .cur files now. Whether or not you can just edit them in Paintshop, I don’t know.

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**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-cursor-colour-in-windows-xp/444891/3 "2008-04-11T15:53:01Z")

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Yes, they are .cur files. You can find them in c:\windows\cursors. I believe you can edit them in PaintShop Pro.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bert\_Nobbins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@Bert\_Nobbins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bert_Nobbins)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-cursor-colour-in-windows-xp/444891/4 "2008-04-11T16:51:28Z")

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Ah yes, got the little buggers.

(pause)

I know have a nice red pointer cursor!

I quickly found however that my ancient (but much-loved) copy of Paintshop 5 does not recognise the .cur format. So I looked for a cursor editor, and there is a nice little free one called JustCursors, which I got from [JustCursors - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download](http://www.download.com/JustCursors/3000-2317_4-10406297.html)

Here is what you do:

1. Copy arrow\_m.cur (the standard white pointer) from /WINDOWS/cursors into a temp folder

2. Open in JustCursors. Fill with red. Save as redarrow\_m.cur

3. Put it in /WINDOWS/cursors

4. Go to contol panel-\>mouse-\>pointers and Browse until you find redarrow\_m.cur and select it. Job done

Thank you everyone; ignorance not just fought but dragged down an alley and given a stiff kicking.