Mouse Cursor Freezes or Disappears in Windows 10

I have an HP Windows 10 desktop. Every now and then the mouse cursor freezes on me, or disappears completely. This just happened again while I was posting here, so I thought I'd ask about it.

I've checked the connections, it's a wired mouse. I've replaced the mouse with a new one and it still happens. I'm not very computer savvy at all, know little about them and have no geeks around to help me figure things out. I wondered if there is something very simple that I can try to resolve this.

I read things online, but I hesitate to do anything that would cause any further problems with the computer. Sometimes it doesn't happen for days, but it happened yesterday and today. I do an illegal shut down, that's the only way I can take care of it. Thanks for any advice.

It could be a virus or a problem with a new version of the video driver. Try doing a rollback in time using the windows restore feature.

Old 'N Chill said:

I have an HP Windows 10 desktop. Every now and then the mouse cursor freezes on me, or disappears completely. This just happened again while I was posting here, so I thought I'd ask about it.

I've checked the connections, it's a wired mouse. I've replaced the mouse with a new one and it still happens. I'm not very computer savvy at all, know little about them and have no geeks around to help me figure things out. I wondered if there is something very simple that I can try to resolve this.

I read things online, but I hesitate to do anything that would cause any further problems with the computer. Sometimes it doesn't happen for days, but it happened yesterday and today. I do an illegal shut down, that's the only way I can take care of it. Thanks for any advice.

Click to expand...

"If your mouse pointer or cursor disappears or has gone misisng on your Windows 10 PC then if you earlier enabled the Show location of pointer when I press Ctrl key option, then you may press the CTRL key to make te pointer appear. ... Uncheck Hide pointer in preferences while typing and see if it makes the problem go away."

If these suggestions do not help, check this out:

How to fix cursor disappeared in Windows 10? - Microsoft Community

Old 'N Chill said:

I have an HP Windows 10 desktop. Every now and then the mouse cursor freezes on me, or disappears completely. This just happened again while I was posting here, so I thought I'd ask about it.

I've checked the connections, it's a wired mouse. I've replaced the mouse with a new one and it still happens. I'm not very computer savvy at all, know little about them and have no geeks around to help me figure things out. I wondered if there is something very simple that I can try to resolve this.

I read things online, but I hesitate to do anything that would cause any further problems with the computer. Sometimes it doesn't happen for days, but it happened yesterday and today. I do an illegal shut down, that's the only way I can take care of it. Thanks for any advice.

Click to expand...

May or may not be related but, my cursor was hanging, I had to turn the power off to and restart. It turned out to be that the PSU was weak.

Old 'N Chill said:

I have an HP Windows 10 desktop. Every now and then the mouse cursor freezes on me, or disappears completely. This just happened again while I was posting here, so I thought I'd ask about it.

I've checked the connections, it's a wired mouse. I've replaced the mouse with a new one and it still happens. I'm not very computer savvy at all, know little about them and have no geeks around to help me figure things out. I wondered if there is something very simple that I can try to resolve this.

I read things online, but I hesitate to do anything that would cause any further problems with the computer. Sometimes it doesn't happen for days, but it happened yesterday and today. I do an illegal shut down, that's the only way I can take care of it. Thanks for any advice.

Click to expand...

A few things to try:

1- If it's a battery powered mouse, change the battery.

2- change the USB slot the mouse is plugged into.

3- run a anti-virus scan. Run a full scan. Might take a while, but just in case. To check for Malware also D/L the FREE version, make sure it is the FREE version(it can be tricky) 0f Malwarebytes and run that.

4- Go to 'control panel', find the mouse icon>>>go to hardware>>>>properties>>>>>driver.... see if you can rollback or change the mouse driver.

Good luck..

On the few occasions that I've experienced such a problem with my wireless Track Ball mouse it was a low battery.

And with a touchscreen monitor/virtual keyboard, I can survive for a while without a mouse/keyboard at all.

I hope the many suggestions offered in this thread solve your mouse problem my friend.

A while back I had a mouse that kept freezing. I would turn it over and blow in it real hard because it had fuzz or dirt in it.

Pippi Longstock said:

A while back I had a mouse that kept freezing. I would turn it over and blow in it real hard because it had fuzz or dirt in it.

Click to expand...

That's when my wife reminds me to shower, and with a bar of soap.

OldFatGuy said:

That's when my wife reminds me to shower, and with a bar of soap.

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ha ha No. I think they get dirt and dust in them just like the computer keys do. Eventually I just got a new one. I think the fuzz from dust or whatever was up by the electronic eye or whatever it's called. It was kind of embedded in there after a while. The mouse I use now is a wired USB mouse. I haven't had it very long and it seems to have a short in the cord. It's always something.

SDET said:

It could be a virus or a problem with a new version of the video driver. Try doing a rollback in time using the windows restore feature.

Click to expand...

I did that quite a few times and it helped with various issues when I ran Windows.

Buy an iPad and leave your Window’s troubles behind!

Failing that, update your drivers, or delete the mouse and let Windows install it again.

Pippi Longstock said:

ha ha No. I think they get dirt and dust in them just like the computer keys do. Eventually I just got a new one. I think the fuzz from dust or whatever was up by the electronic eye or whatever it's called. It was kind of embedded in there after a while. The mouse I use now is a wired USB mouse. I haven't had it very long and it seems to have a short in the cord. It's always something.

Click to expand...

I use a silicone keyboard skin, no dust and dirt between the keys, spill proof, and it is washable in the kitchen sink. I also use a wireless trackball with a USB rechargeable battery, works while charging, and the grandkids leave a sticky residue all over the ball leaving a residue on the rollers. Requires frequent cleaning with alcohol swab pads.

I tell them not to use the trackball, use the Apple wireless Magic Mouse. They think it is for throwing at me. Almost six, and born to be obnoxious, in duplicate.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. It's a wired mouse, no batteries and I first cleaned the mouse and pad and ended up just buying a new mouse, using the old mouse with my new laptop. Still is happening but not too frequently, still enough to be annoying though. I will consider all advice and when I feel adventurous will try the different things you shared to try and fix it.

OldFatGuy said:

I use a silicone keyboard skin, no dust and dirt between the keys, spill proof, and it is washable in the kitchen sink. I also use a wireless trackball with a USB rechargeable battery, works while charging, and the grandkids leave a sticky residue all over the ball leaving a residue on the rollers. Requires frequent cleaning with alcohol swab pads.

I tell them not to use the trackball, use the Apple wireless Magic Mouse. They think it is for throwing at me. Almost six, and born to be obnoxious, in duplicate.

Click to expand...

Well all of this prompted me to buy a new mouse. Seems silly to be frustrated about the thing. Which I was somewhat. I ordered a Logitech wireless with the USB thing. Had one of those before and it worked pretty good. I was amazed at the prices of some of them. Never heard of the ball mouse you spoke of. It seemed a little much for my taste.

Old 'N Chill said:

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. It's a wired mouse, no batteries and I first cleaned the mouse and pad and ended up just buying a new mouse, using the old mouse with my new laptop. Still is happening but not too frequently, still enough to be annoying though. I will consider all advice and when I feel adventurous will try the different things you shared to try and fix it.

Click to expand...

Be careful with the wired one. It fails where the USB goes into the computer if you put any stress on it like I did with a laptop, well on my lap.

Pippi Longstock said:

Well all of this prompted me to buy a new mouse. Seems silly to be frustrated about the thing. Which I was somewhat. I ordered a Logitech wireless with the USB thing. Had one of those before and it worked pretty good. I was amazed at the prices of some of them. Never heard of the ball mouse you spoke of. It seemed a little much for my taste.

Click to expand...

It's a Kensington Trackball. With a very large ball, almost retro to the early dedicated video game machines that ate our quarters as we zapped invaders from outer space.

Once you get used to it, excellent for fine control or vast movements of extra large displays. All kinds of modifications for sensitivity and speed through software, and 4 buttons to make yourself delirious with shortcuts for bringing up menus or chording for effects, and the usual suspects. I've been using different iterations since my first MacPlus when desk space real estate was at a premium. Then started buying them for staff, who at first didn't like them, then started buying them for home use. Logitech is another good company, but their trackball is small, intended for one or two finger use, not quite the same feel.

Used to go to computer conventions with my friend Lee, who operated a cement company and had developed docks, piers, small airports, housing and so on throughout the Caribbean. He could not resist asking the tech people where he could buy the treadmills for the mice that ran the computers. He was up on the cutting edge of computers back in the day. The response was always bewilderment. He seemed so serious.

The only difference between children's toys and adult toys, adult toys cost more.

I think the future of computer human interfacing lies in hand gestures and a vocal communication, the light pencil for graphics. The use of mice and similar devices will be left to history. A revolution fading into obscurity.

OldFatGuy said:

It's a Kensington Trackball. With a very large ball, almost retro to the early dedicated video game machines that ate our quarters as we zapped invaders from outer space.

Once you get used to it, excellent for fine control or vast movements of extra large displays. All kinds of modifications for sensitivity and speed through software, and 4 buttons to make yourself delirious with shortcuts for bringing up menus or chording for effects, and the usual suspects. I've been using different iterations since my first MacPlus when desk space real estate was at a premium. Then started buying them for staff, who at first didn't like them, then started buying them for home use. Logitech is another good company, but their trackball is small, intended for one or two finger use, not quite the same feel.

Click to expand...

Gosh and they still call it a mouse. Seems like it needs a bigger name. Trackball mouse? I don't like that.

Got my new mouse. It's grand! but still just a mouse.

OldFatGuy said:

"If your mouse pointer or cursor disappears or has gone misisng on your Windows 10 PC then if you earlier enabled the Show location of pointer when I press Ctrl key option, then you may press the CTRL key to make te pointer appear. ... Uncheck Hide pointer in preferences while typing and see if it makes the problem go away."

Click to expand...

Thanks OldFatGuy, this happened twice today so I'm just starting to try one thing at a time to attempt to resolve this in the simplest way possible. I just used your suggestion to show location of pointer when I press control key, hoping that takes care of it.

Old 'N Chill said:

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. It's a wired mouse, no batteries and I first cleaned the mouse and pad and ended up just buying a new mouse, using the old mouse with my new laptop. Still is happening but not too frequently, still enough to be annoying though. I will consider all advice and when I feel adventurous will try the different things you shared to try and fix it.

Click to expand...

Just a dumb question out of idle curiosity, is it ONLY your mouse freezing or is it possible that a lot of stuff is freezing and you just happen to notice the mouse only?
How much RAM does your laptop have installed. There are built in ways to check this:

View detailed system information
You can also open "System information" by opening Windows Run dialog ("Windows key + R" shortcut or Right click on Start button and select "Run" from pop-up menu), type "msinfo32" in Run dialog, and click on OK button.

I ask because a common problem with bone stock consumer laptops from typical big box store sales is that they are thin or skimpy on stuff like that.
At a BARE MINIMUM Windows 10 needs 8 GB of RAM* but realistically if you don't have 12 or 16 GB installed at minimum, your machine will be accessing the pagefile quite often and your integrated video graphics card is also slurping up a lot of it, too.

Realistically you really only have about 2 GB of RAM available to use on an 8 GB system. The WinOS needs at least 3-4, video needs at least 1GB, plus "overhead" eats up a lot as do things like system hangs from background processes.

If possible to install 16 GB of RAM, then install 16 GB of RAM, whether it cures the problem or not.
Because even if the problem has nothing to do with RAM, you ARE going to immediately notice the difference anyway.

*(as far as any build tech will agree)

Old 'N Chill said:

Thanks OldFatGuy, this happened twice today so I'm just starting to try one thing at a time to attempt to resolve this in the simplest way possible. I just used your suggestion to show location of pointer when I press control key, hoping that takes care of it.

Click to expand...

I hope it works for you, good luck.

Old 'N Chill said:

I have an HP Windows 10 desktop. Every now and then the mouse cursor freezes on me, or disappears completely. This just happened again while I was posting here, so I thought I'd ask about it.

I've checked the connections, it's a wired mouse. I've replaced the mouse with a new one and it still happens. I'm not very computer savvy at all, know little about them and have no geeks around to help me figure things out. I wondered if there is something very simple that I can try to resolve this.

I read things online, but I hesitate to do anything that would cause any further problems with the computer. Sometimes it doesn't happen for days, but it happened yesterday and today. I do an illegal shut down, that's the only way I can take care of it. Thanks for any advice.

Click to expand...

I get it on occasion with touch pad (no mouse). So, I doubt it is mouse related.


Hit escape about ten times. If the problem persists, repeat by hitting it a dozen times. If that fails, right and left click for a while. My cursor usually reappears for me after a few cycles of this.

Every time I think of maybe switching to PC, I remember just how much I hated every last version of Windows I used to use at work.

OldFatGuy said:

I hope it works for you, good luck.

Click to expand...

Update, up until today, this cursor issue has not happened again. Keeping fingers crossed though.