My mouse pointer suddenly looks slightly larger or different—about one pixel longer—and it's surprisingly distracting. I tried pressing Windows + R, opening main.cpl, selecting the old cursor, and clicking Apply and OK, but the change didn't stick. Is there another way to restore the previous pointer, or could this be caused by display settings or a recent Windows update?
3 Answers
If this started recently, a Windows update could be responsible. Look through the latest update history and check whether other users are reporting the same cursor issue. Reverting the most recent update, if appropriate, may confirm whether it caused the change.
It may not just be a size change—the screenshot appears to show a different pointer design. Try selecting the exact previous cursor scheme or replacing the current pointer with the older cursor file, rather than only changing the size. Then apply the change and restart if necessary.
Check your display resolution and scaling settings first. A change in scaling, resolution, or graphics-driver behavior can make the cursor look slightly different even when its configured size hasn’t changed. Updating or rolling back the display driver may also help.

I’ll check the update history too, since the pointer changed without me intentionally modifying any settings.