# What the heck do I have Checked (MS WORD)?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-do-i-have-checked-ms-word/152184>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 1, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-do-i-have-checked-ms-word/152184 "2003-02-01T23:19:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-do-i-have-checked-ms-word/152184/1 "2003-02-01T23:19:45Z")

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Ok all was fine yesterday. Then today I start using my MS Word and my cursor is driving me nuts.  
You know how you select a text to say, copy. Instead of giving me the cursor shaped like

* * *

| |
| --- |

The cursor looks like a CAPITAL T with a bar at the bottom

Well that is a pretty bad drawing of it but you get it. I gives me the arrow. It throws me off when typing. How do I get it back? It only occurs in MS Word so I must’ve checked something. It doesn’t occur in my MS Outlook or Excel or a Notepad only in MS Word. It isn’t happening here on this page

What do I have checked?

I have checked my mouse and it is installed correctly as it gives me the options in other programs. So it has to be a Word thing.

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-do-i-have-checked-ms-word/152184/2 "2003-02-01T23:26:16Z")

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Umm … WAG here … maybe check your Mouse Properties, under Control Panel -\> Settings? Maybe something’s different there.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-do-i-have-checked-ms-word/152184/3 "2003-02-02T01:37:35Z")

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Start ==\> Settings ==\> Control Panel ==\> Mouse ==\> Pointer

Use the side bar Scroll to move down to view “Text Select” and see if it is your odd cursor.

If it is, click on the “Text Select” then click on the Browse button. The normal “Text Select” is ibeam.cur; there are several other similar options that are all variants of the name beam\_?.cur . Double clicking the ibeam.cur should restore your original choice.

(The Browse button _should_ open c:\Windows\Cursors. If it opens a different folder, go find the Cursors folder.)

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**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-do-i-have-checked-ms-word/152184/4 "2003-02-02T04:56:07Z")

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No I tried that and it isn’t that. Because the pointer worked fine anywhere on the computer but in Word. It got so frustrating I just reran the MSOffice CD and put Repair Office and it worked. I wonder what I checked though