Cursors feature in many of the interfaces between computers and their users.

On CRT screens displaying character-based interfaces, the cursor originally (and sometimes still) manifests itself as a solid (or transparent) rectangle (or underscore) indicating the position of the next insertable character or (when back-spacing or over-typing) the next deletable character.

Modern computers with a graphical user interface (GUI) usually display two cursors:

• the mouse pointer (often in the form of an arrow) which moves on the screen as the user moves the computer mouse or other pointing device.

• an insertion point, displayed when editing text to show the location of any future modifications. This often appears as a blinking vertical line. (Some users refer to the insertion-point cursor as a caret to distinguish it from a mouse-cursor. Others call them the mouse pointer and text cursor to likewise disambiguate.)

In many GUI-based computer programs, the shape of the mouse-pointer cursor changes when the user's task changes or when the mouse-pointer moves over a different window. For instance:

• In text that the user can select or edit, the cursor changes to a vertical bar with little cross-bars (or curved serif-like extensions) at the top and bottom - sometimes called an "I-beam" since it resembles the cross-section of the construction detail of the same name.
• When displaying a document, the cursor can appear as a hand with all fingers extended allowing scrolling by "pushing" the displayed page around.
• Graphics-editing cursors such as brushes, pencils or paint buckets may display when the user edits an image.
• On an edge or corner of a window the cursor usually changes into a double arrow (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) indicating that the user can drag the edge/corner in an indicated direction in order to adjust the shape of the window.
• While a computer process performs tasks and cannot accept user input, a wait cursor (an hourglass or watch) sometimes displays in the corresponding window.
• When the cursor hovers over a hyperlink, it changes into a hand with a stretched index finger. Often some informative text about the link may pop up — not in a regular window, but in a special hovering box (tooltip), which disappears when the user moves the cursor away. The tooltips revealed in the box depend on the implementation of the web browser; many web browsers will display the "title" of the element, the "alt" attribute, or the non-W3C- standard "tooltips" attribute. This cursor shape was first used for hyperlinks in Apple Computer's HyperCard.