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Windows has a feature to hide the cursor (aka "pointer") when typing text. The option is called "Hide pointer while typing".

Unfortunately, it does not work reliably.

"Hide pointer while typing" option in Mouse Properties dialog box

Is there a Windows 7 compatible app, preferably gratis, that fixes this Windows annoyance?

BTW, reports on the web indicate that Microsoft still has not fixed this in Windows 10, and that Microsoft has not been able/willing to fix this bug for well over a decade.

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  • You may find it difficult to find a solution with the abundance of 3rd party mice and drivers that available. I would bet that the mouse driver somehow impacts that flag.
    – rrirower
    Sep 7, 2016 at 20:35
  • @rrirower Thanks. I tested the Hide pointer while typing option with the default Windows 7 mouse drivers included by Microsoft. It does not even work reliably with those drivers!
    – RockPaperLz- Mask it or Casket ♦
    Sep 7, 2016 at 21:29
  • The reason it doesn't work is that it's based on the type of Text Box in which you're typing. For example, notepad uses the system textbox and mouse cursor hides properly. But other apps with custom textareas including browsers don't support this.
    – Ryan Griggs
    Nov 28, 2016 at 18:15
  • @RyanGriggs Thanks Ryan! Do you happen to know of software to make that feature work on all textareas?
    – RockPaperLz- Mask it or Casket ♦
    Nov 28, 2016 at 20:39
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    Unfortunately I do not. I have been searching, like you, for a solution. It is most annoying to have the cursor right in the middle of the text when I click to position the cursor then start typing. I would love to find an app dedicated to this particular purpose. It should be fairly straightforward: just use SetWindowsHookEx to hook WH_KEYBOARD_LL and WH_MOUSE_LL and then hide the mouse pointer when keyboard input detected, showing it again upon detected mouse movement. I'm too busy right now to write this, but may visit it soon. If so I'll post here.
    – Ryan Griggs
    Nov 28, 2016 at 21:46

1 Answer 1

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I found, through trawling the Microsoft answers page referenced above, this excellent app called Windows Cursor Hider.

According to the manual, the app:

"...is a small script written and compiled using AutoHotKey that hides the windows cursor when a user starts typing any alphanumeric (and certain coding-related) characters, and shows it again as soon as a mouse movement is detected"

Though it hasn't been updated since 2014, I can attest to it working well for me now on Windows 10 in 2020.

Note: I do have AutoHotKey installed, but I don't think it is necessary to have, as the instructions on the repo offer both a standalone executable and an AutoHotKey script. I used the standalone .exe.

The cursor is invisible as I type this answer!

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