Cursor highlighter for Windows, free forever
SHARA puts a halo around your mouse pointer and flashes it on every click, so people on a call or in a recording see where you point and what you click. The halo and click flash are free forever on Windows 10 and 11.
What does SHARA’s cursor highlighter do?
It draws a halo (Circle, Squircle or Rhombus) around the Windows mouse pointer, in one of three sizes and any colour you pick, and flashes it on every click (separate left- and right-click colours are part of Pro). Press Ctrl+Win+H to show or hide it. Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and OBS capture it when you share your entire screen.
Six controls, all from the keyboard and mouse
The halo is on from the first launch; Ctrl+Win+H hides it and brings it back.
| Control | What happens | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+Win+H | Shows or hides the halo around your pointer. | FREE |
| Left click | The halo flashes your left-click colour. | PRO |
| Right click | The halo flashes your right-click colour. | PRO |
| Ctrl+Win+G | Hold for your lens mode. With Spotlight chosen, everything but the pointer area dims. | PRO |
| Ctrl+Win+Z | Master Toggle: every SHARA overlay off, or back on, in one press. | FREE |
| Ctrl+Space | Opens the SHARA Wheel at the cursor or the docked toolbar: Laser, Pen, Arrow, Text. | FREE |
All defaults are on the SHARA keyboard shortcuts page, printable as a one-page cheat sheet.
Seven parts of the halo you control
Shape, size and colour are free forever. The rest is part of SHARA Pro.
Three shapes
Circle is the classic. Rhombus stands out on boxy interfaces like spreadsheets and CAD.
Glow, dashed or dotted
A soft glow for calm slides, or a crisp dashed or dotted ring that stays visible over bright video.
Small, medium or large
Go small for a desk demo, large for a 4K share squeezed into a video tile or watched on a phone.
Any halo colour
Match your brand or contrast with the app you present most.
Two click colours
Left and right clicks flash in two colours you choose, so viewers can tell a selection from a context menu without you saying it.
Spring motion, 3D tilt
The halo follows with spring physics and leans slightly into the direction you move. GPU-rendered with 1000 Hz input response, so it keeps up with fast flicks.
Dim everything except your pointer
Set Spotlight as your lens mode, then hold Ctrl+Win+G: the screen darkens and only the area around the pointer stays lit. Release and the screen comes back. Hold by default, or set it to toggle. Spotlight is one of the four screen zoom modes in SHARA Pro.
Illustrations of each setting, not screenshots. Press play in the demo above to see the real halo.
Why click colours matter: on a call, a click makes no sound and leaves no mark. When each click flashes, people stop asking you to repeat a step and start following along. It is why instructors rely on cursor highlighting for software tutorials, and why presenters turn the halo on for Zoom and Teams presentations.
“This helped greatly, resulting in faster responses and more accurate actions!”
Microsoft Store review, U.S.A
Tune the halo once, then forget it
| Setting | Your options |
|---|---|
| Shape | Circle, Squircle or Rhombus |
| Border | Solid; glow, dashed or dotted in Pro |
| Halo size | Small, medium or large |
| Halo colour | Any colour you pick |
| Left-click colour | Any colour, separate from the halo (Pro) |
| Right-click colour | Any colour, separate from the left click (Pro) |
| Halo hotkey | Ctrl+Win+H by default; rebind it to any chord |
| Lens trigger (Spotlight) | Hold (default) or toggle |
Sharp on 4K and on multi-monitor setups with mixed scaling: SHARA is DPI-calibrated, so the halo sits exactly around the pointer on every display.
PowerToys already highlights clicks for free. Here’s the difference.
Microsoft’s free, open-source PowerToys includes a Mouse Highlighter. It’s good, and it may be all you need.
| What you want | PowerToys Mouse Highlighter | SHARA |
|---|---|---|
| Persistent highlight on the pointer | ✓Circle highlight or Spotlight mode | ✓Halo in 3 shapes and 3 border styles |
| Left and right click colours | ✓Yes | ✓Yes, in Pro |
| Spotlight (dim the rest) | ✓Yes, free | ✓Yes, in Pro |
| Ripple click effect | ✓Yes, the default | ✓Yes, in Pro |
| Fade timing and radius | ✓Yes | ✕No |
| Spring motion and 3D tilt | ✕No | ✓Yes, in Pro |
| Pen, zoom, keystrokes too | Separate modules (ZoomIt) | ✓One app: Wheel or toolbar |
| Default toggle | Win+Shift+H | Ctrl+Win+H |
Pick PowerToys if you want a free ripple on your own desk, fade timing, or Find My Mouse (double-press Ctrl or shake). Pick SHARA if people are watching and you want the halo, your pens, zoom and on-screen keystrokes behind one hotkey. The two can stay installed together because their default hotkeys differ; keep one highlighter on at a time.
The highlighter is free. Pro adds the lenses.
| For your cursor | SHARA Free | SHARA Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Halo shape, size, colour, flash | ✓Forever | ✓Included |
| Click colours, ripple, glow, tilt | 14-day trial | ✓Included |
| Master Toggle, halo hotkey | ✓Forever | ✓Included |
| Spotlight dim | 14-day trial | ✓Included |
| Magnifier, Live Zoom, 9:16 | 14-day trial | ✓Included |
| Toolbar, Wheel, Arrow, Text | ✓Forever | ✓Included |
| Eraser, screenshots, Pen, Laser | ✓Forever | ✓Included |
| Highlighter, Line, Rectangle, Circle | 14-day trial | ✓Included |
| Whiteboard, Keystrokes | 14-day trial | ✓Included |
| Price | $0, no expiry | $19.99 once, no subscription |
Free forever tier. SHARA Pro is a $19.99 one-time lifetime license with a 14-day money-back guarantee, usable across your personal Windows devices via the Microsoft Store. Every install starts with a 14-day Pro trial.
Install free and the halo is already on. Spotlight is unlocked for your first 14 days.
Captured wherever you share or record
| App | What to do |
|---|---|
| Zoom | Share your entire screen, not a single window. |
| Microsoft Teams | Share your entire screen, not a single window. |
| Google Meet | Present your entire screen. |
| OBS Studio | Use a Display Capture source. |
| Camtasia Recorder | Record full screen or a region; the halo is captured. |
Overlays render on a system layer captured natively by Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and OBS. Presenter Mode hides the Ctrl+Space Wheel from recordings. In Zoom or Teams, share your entire screen: a single-window share doesn’t capture SHARA’s overlay.
See the halo in your kind of work
Teaching software on screen
Interfaces full of tiny icons, where the click is the lesson.
Instructor setup Zoom & TeamsPresenting on calls
Keep a remote audience on the right part of a shared screen.
Meeting setup Screen recordingTutorials and demos
Clicks that read clearly in a recording, without editing them in later.
Recording setupCursor highlighter questions
Is SHARA’s cursor highlighter free?
How do I highlight mouse clicks on Windows 11?
Can I change the halo’s opacity?
Will people in Teams or Zoom see the halo?
Does SHARA send data anywhere?
Give your pointer a halo before your next call
Install free and share your entire screen: the halo is already on. The halo and click flash stay free forever; Spotlight dim and the rest of Pro are yours to try for 14 days.
Disclosure: Mashyo makes SHARA. PowerToys and Windows are Microsoft products, and Microsoft is not affiliated with SHARA. PowerToys details come from Microsoft Learn, checked October 17, 2026. Last updated: October 17, 2026.