How do I disable hiding of the mouse pointer while typing text?

Question

I think I'm finally annoyed enough with my mouse pointer disappearing as I start typing to want to do something about it.

I want to move the mouse. I want to click. I want to start typing, but I want the mouse pointer to stay as is. I end up having to move the mouse just to figure out where the pointer is and I hate that.

How do I do this? Is this a switch I can toggle from within Mac OS or will I have to use a third-party app? I dug around System Preferences and Keyboard settings, but I didn't find anything relevant.

I'm running Mountain Lion 10.8.2 on an iMac. At this moment, it's a Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 1000 along with the regular Apple Wireless Keyboard.

Answer 1

This is the default global behavior and can't be changed through a system preference. (I can't find any third-party utilities to change this either.)

Apple's reasoning is probably that users (but not all users) don't want the mouse pointer to obscure the text while typing. A developer might work around this by using NSCursor with setHiddenUntilMouseMoves:NO or unhide, etc., but this would be considered bad form due to creating an inconsistent user experience compared to other apps.

Answer 2

Mouse Locator is a (32-bit) preference pane that will allow you to set a keyboard shortcut to show where the mouse is. You can also set a trigger time in addition or in lieu of a keyboard shortcut.

Answer 3

There are several programs that will highlight where the mouse is on a given key press; apart from Mouse Locator mathioned above there is OmniDazzle or Mouseposé