On a shared screen, a projector or a compressed video, a standard mouse pointer is easy to lose. Highlighting your cursor gives your audience something to follow, so they're always looking at the same thing you are. Here's how to do it on Windows.

Why highlight your cursor?

• Meetings: attendees can follow along on a screen share without asking “where are you?”
• Recordings and tutorials: viewers can track your mouse even at lower video quality.
• Classrooms: students at the back of the room can see the pointer on a large display.
• Accessibility: a bigger, brighter pointer is easier to see for everyone.

Option 1: Make the pointer bigger in Windows

In Windows 11, open Settings → Accessibility → Mouse pointer and touch to change the pointer's size and colour. In Windows 10, it's under Settings → Ease of Access → Mouse pointer.

Limits: a bigger pointer helps, but it's still just an arrow — there's no glow or halo to draw the eye.

Option 2: Show the pointer's location with Ctrl

In Control Panel, open Mouse → Pointer Options and tick Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key. Pressing Ctrl then shows a brief ring around the pointer.

Limits: it only lasts a moment, and you have to remember to press it.

Option 3: Microsoft PowerToys

The free Microsoft PowerToys includes Mouse Utilities such as Find My Mouse, a click highlighter and crosshairs.

Limits: it's a separate set of tools to install and configure, and it doesn't include a pen for drawing on the screen.

Option 4: Epic Pen Pro's highlighted cursor

Epic Pen Pro puts a bright halo around your mouse that follows it everywhere, in every app. It sits alongside everything else you need to present: draw, highlight, type and point, all from one toolbar or a few hotkeys.

Works well with

• Drawing in Zoom, Teams and Meet — share your entire screen so the highlight shows up.
• Recording tutorials and streams — viewers can follow your mouse at any resolution.
• Presenting and training — keep a whole room looking at the same spot.

Pair the highlighted cursor with fading ink: draw as you talk and let your marks disappear on their own, so the screen never gets cluttered.