The appearance of Windows is fairly fixed. You can put your own spin on color schemes and backgrounds to a certain extent, but that's about it. There are apps that give you more options, but you can easily do one thing yourself: changing your mouse pointer in Windows is a piece of cake.
By default, Windows uses the well-known mouse cursor, a black or white arrow with a thin leg. Links are shown with a hand, and if you have to wait a while you see a rotating circle. But did you know that it can be much more fun? You can use your own (or, much easier, someone else's) mouse pointers.
Download Mouse Pointers
First you need to find a nice set of pointers. Here you will find a few, but a quick google will yield plenty of alternatives. There are also countless pointers on websites such as Deviant Art that you can download for free. Just do a search and see which one you like.
Set up mouse pointers
The easiest way to install mouse pointers is via the .inf file that is often included in the zip. If you have extracted the zip and placed it in a folder that you are sure you will not accidentally delete, you can in Windows 10 via Start / Control Panel / Hardware and Sound / Devices and Printers / Mouse to the tab Pointers to go. In Windows 7, go to Start / Control Panel / Mouse / Pointers.
If you installed the .inf file in the previous step, the new pointers should be listed under the heading Scheme. If there was no .inf file in the folder or you can't install it (for example because you don't have admin rights), you have to manually add the pointers.
Change mouse pointers
Click on the first choice below To adjust, Normal selection, and then To leaf through. Locate the folder where you placed the pointers and find the correct pointer (usually the pointers will have the same name as in the list under To adjust, but in English). Of course you can also choose which pointer you want to use and when.
Repeat for the whole list and when you're done, click Save as…. Enter a name, click OK and again OK. Your mouse pointer has now changed.
Bonus tip
If you use the manual way, you can even download multiple collections of pointers and pick the best one. Are you really in a creative mood? Then make your own pointers with a program like AniTuner.
