Why does my mouse pointer stay bright when I dim the display?

Overlay dimming can darken the desktop while leaving the mouse pointer bright. The pointer is drawn above the dimming layer, so it does not receive the same adjustment as the image underneath.

If your display supports hardware brightness control, use that to lower the display’s brightness instead. This lowers the display’s light output, so the pointer also becomes dimmer. You can still use software dimming below the hardware minimum. With overlay dimming, the pointer may remain brighter than the desktop.

Color-table dimming is another software method and can affect the pointer as well, where supported. Availability depends on the display and configuration. See color-table compatibility before changing that setting, especially with a custom color profile.

See dimming below the hardware minimum for how the available brightness methods fit together.