Q. The cursor keeps disappearing on my Windows Vista PC, but reappears after a few minutes. Why, and what can I do about it?

A. The vanishing cursor is a common problem with later versions of Windows, including Windows 7. Wiggling the mouse around will usually cause it to reappear. A possible solution is to right mouse click on the Desktop, select Personalize, go to Change mouse pointers, click on Pointer options and turn on Display pointer trails. Set the trails to Short and the cursor will leave a temporary trail as the pointer moves across the screen, making it rather more visible without it being too annoyingly intrusive. Pointer options in Windows 7 also lets one select Show location of pointer when I press the Ctrl key. This displays a small animated target to help you locate the cursor if you lose sight of it.