from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
mouse trails
<operating system> A feature (usually of {Graphical User
Interfaces}) which causes the {mouse} {pointer} to leave a
trail across the screen. This is done by keeping track of the
last eight or so (maybe configurable) pointer positions, and
only erasing the oldest. This means that at any time, there
may be up to eight pointers on the screen, but if the mouse is
still, they will all be in the same position, and so only one
will be visible. When the mouse moves, it appears to leave a
trail of pointers behind it, and this can dramatically
increase the visibility of the pointer when using {LCD}
screens. The older ones had such long {persistence} that a
single mouse pointer, when moving, tended to be completely
invisible, and on a cluttered screen, was very difficult to
find.
(1996-07-08)