Cursors

Dave · Jul-21-2004

How can I tell which cursors I'm currently using in Windows XP? I've looked in the Cursors folder and a lot of them I don't recognise, but there are some I do recognise, but there are more than one of them. For example, the run-of-the-mill white arrow pointer. There's at least two of them in my cursors folder. The reason I want to know this is because I want to know which ones I can delete safely (to save space, as per the How To thread, "How To Create More Disc Space The 'Extreme' Way"). Also I want to change my current set of cursors for custom made ones. I don't want to keep the originals, I just want to replace them. Thanks for any help.

Alan · Jul-21-2004

Dave,
The 'How To' did say gain space the EXTREME way and there is nothing more extreme! The entire cursor folder is only 300Kb which is next to nothing! If you want to proceed and delete some, then start with the one's you dont recognise, these are used within themes and if you dont recognise them, you are not using them. The different sizes are for different display settings. E.G. if you have a high resolution setting you will use the smaller set unless you have instructed windows otherwise.
If you are going to use a program of sorts (there are many knocking about) then just overwrite the originals.

EDIT: It would be a good idea to back-up the cursor folder to a floppy, that way you can revert back should you want to.

Dave · Jul-21-2004

Thanks Alan. I looked through all of them, but I still coudn't find where the Windows Default cursors were coming from, even after I ran a search for all .cur files. The only cursors I could find were either bigger or smaller than the ones I was currently using.

I changed my approach though, and took screen shots of the default cursors and pasted them from Adobe Photoshop to Microangelo. I now have a full set of bright yellow cursors! I'm still puzzled as to why I can't find the defaults though, even when I turned hidden files and folders off. Strange. But thanks for your help!

Alan · Jul-21-2004

You can locate or change the cursors you are using by going to the Control Panel then clicking on Mouse then on pointers. You should see all the cursors from the Cursor Folder.
There are many sites that you can download cursors from if you want a few more choices.

Dave · Jul-22-2004

Yeah, that's where I looked to take the screenshots of my default cursors. I just couldn't find the actual cursor files that go with them! Oh well, I managed eventually.

Thanks Alan.