Windows Tip: Automatically Move Mouse Pointer To Default Button In Dialog Boxes

One of the more annoying things about dialog boxes when you need to confirm or click OK, is that you never know where on the Desktop it will appear. Sometimes it is close to where the mouse pointer is, or sometimes it ends up at the other end if the screen. And sometimes it's anyone guess where it will appear when you need to confirm multiple dialog boxes in succession.

To help take the guess work out of where the dialog box will appear, you can configure the mouse pointer in Windows XP and Vista to land on the default button in the dialog box, allowing for easy access to confirm or click OK.

To configure this setting:

 - in Vista, open the Control Panel by clicking on the Start button in Vista, and type mouse in the search box, then click on Mouse in the search results to open the Mouse properties.

 - in XP, click on Start \ Settings \ Control Panel and click on Mouse to open the Mouse properties.

Select the Pointer Options tab, then select the check box next to "Automatically move pointer to the default button in a dialog box". Click OK to save the setting and close the mouse property window.

NOTE: screen shot is from Windows Vista. Settings will be similar in Windows XP

Now when you need to click OK, or confirm a question in a dialog box, the mouse pointer will snap (move) to the default button, waiting for you to click or move to another button in the dialog box.