AutoHideMouseCursor

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on June 27, 2012

Cursors are necessary and useful, but every now and then they can get in the way. You might find them blocking the text you're typing in a word-processing document, hovering over the forehead of someone in a video you're watching, or presenting a distraction during a slideshow. This is a problem that can be easily solved with AutoHideMouseCursor. This simple utility can automatically hide your cursor after a specified period of time, keeping it out of the way until you need it again.

The program's interface is straightforward; there are check boxes to disable the program, have it start with Windows, and keep it on top. A slider lets users adjust the period of time that AutoHideMouseCursor waits before hiding the mouse, ranging from 2 to 100 seconds. Time starts counting down once the mouse stops moving, and a timer shows a receding progress bar as the seconds pass; moving the mouse starts the timer over again. The program can be minimized to the system tray for easy access. We liked that the cursor automatically reappears once the mouse is moved; there are no keyboard shortcuts or other tricks to remember. There's no Help file, but most people shouldn't have much trouble figuring it out. Overall, AutoHideMouseCursor is a very simple program, but it proved to be very useful at those times when the cursor gets in the way.

AutoHideMouseCursor comes as a ZIP file. It's accessible after extraction with no need for installation.