On-Screen Mouse: Touch Pointer

I use a tablet PC all the time. One of the features that I really like about Windows Vista and Windows 7 is the on-screen mouse touch pointer. This feature is available for tablet PCs that have a passive touch screen. Those using an active digitizer (by Wacom and others) won't see this feature.

Essentially, if you tap on the screen, a little (or big) mouse appears on the screen. This way, you can move the cursor around and hover over things. On a traditional touch screen tablet, it's difficult to "hover" over links when you're using touch. The on-screen pointer also gives you the ability to click on the right and left mouse buttons.

Some people hate this on-screen pointer and I see that it's on (by default) in Windows Vista and off in Windows 7. You can toggle this on-screen pointer on/off, but I'm inclined to think that Microsoft received more negative feedback and criticism about this feature. That's probably why it was off by default in Windows 7. Well, this is one of those things that I can see people would either love or hate. I really like it and I'm glad to see that Microsoft continued this feature in Windows 7. Image source: slashgear