This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off displaying mouse pointer trails for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
The mouse pointer, which is sometimes referred to as the cursor, is a bitmap that specifies a focus point on the screen for user input with the mouse.
You can turn on to display pointer trails to see where the mouse is moving on the screen.
Reference:
Make Windows easier to see - Microsoft Support
Learn how to make your Windows display easier to see using accessibility features for ease of access.
support.microsoft.com
Contents
- Option One: Turn On or Off Mouse Pointer Trails in Control Panel
- Option Two: Turn On or Off Mouse Pointer Trails using REG file
1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Mouse icon.
2 Click/tap on the Pointer Options tab. (see screenshot below)
3 Do step 4 (on) or step 5 (off) below for what you would like to do.
4 Turn On Mouse Pointer Trails
A) Click/tap on the Pointer Options tab. (see screenshot below)
B) Check Display pointer trails under Visibility.
C) Adjust the pointer trails slider between Short to Long for how long of a pointer trail you want.
D) Click/tap on OK, and go to step 6.
5 Turn Off Mouse Pointer Trails
This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Pointer Options tab. (see screenshot below)
B) Uncheck Display pointer trails under Visibility.
C) Click/tap on OK, and go to step 6.
6 You can now close the Control Panel if you like.
1 Do step 2 (on) or step 3 (off) below for what you want.
2 Turn On Mouse Pointer Trails
A) Click/tap on the Download button below for the Short to Long pointer trail you want, and go to step 4 below.
Turn_ON_pointer_trails_short-2.reg
Download
(Contents of REG file for reference)
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse]
"MouseTrails"="2"OR
Turn_ON_pointer_trails_short-3.reg
Download
(Contents of REG file for reference)
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse]
"MouseTrails"="3"OR
Turn_ON_pointer_trails_short-4.reg
Download
(Contents of REG file for reference)
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse]
"MouseTrails"="4"OR
Turn_ON_pointer_trails_long-5.reg
Download
(Contents of REG file for reference)
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse]
"MouseTrails"="5"OR
Turn_ON_pointer_trails_long-6.reg
Download
(Contents of REG file for reference)
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse]
"MouseTrails"="6"OR
Turn_ON_pointer_trails_long-7.reg
Download
(Contents of REG file for reference)
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse]
"MouseTrails"="7"3 Turn Off Mouse Pointer Trails
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.
Turn_OFF_pointer_trails.reg
Download
(Contents of REG file for reference)
Code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse]
"MouseTrails"="0"4 Save the .reg file to your desktop.
5 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.
6 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.
7 Either sign out and sign in or restart the computer to apply.
8 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.
That's it,
Shawn Brink
Last edited:
