My mouse goes busy at a specific point on screen.

I believe I may have found the culprit. I just checked to see if the problem was back yet (it wasn't) but then I noticed when I hovered over the 'Search Magnifier' next to the Start button a recent searches menu appeared (see screenshot below).

This menu immediately went away when I moved my mouse cursor but then I noticed the busy cursor was back again. Right clicking on the Search Magnifier causes the magnifier icon to turn blue, it stays that colour until I moved my mouse beyond the active area shown in the red box below. Moving past that area made the magnifier icon turn white again suggesting that the icon only remains blue and active whilst I'm hovering over the search menu. Incidentally this 'Search Menu' pop-up doesn't always appear which also suggests that it might still be active when the user cannot see the menu, hence the problem we are all experiencing.

Update 1

I've been playing around with this a bit and notice that I can move this invisible active area by choosing too show the start menu on the left of the screen. This seems to confirm my theory, this active area seems to follow the 'Search Magnifier' recent searches menu. Ironically however, removing the search magnifier from the task bar does not remove this problem.

Update 2 - Temporary Solution/Fix

So I have found a workable solution, ..in the interim at least. When this issue arises, Right Click the Start Button and open the Task Manager, then on the Processes Tab scroll down and find 'Windows Explorer' (Yellow folder icon) and then 'Restart' the process. This will cure the problem temporarily until it happens again. As I suspected this issue is caused by the 'Search Magnifier' - 'Recent Searches' pop-up menu.., after restarting Explorer.exe just now the recent searches menu is now working again, it wasn't working while the cursor was showing as busy.

Things that I have noticed can trigger this busy cursor issue:-

• Hovering the mouse over the Search Magnifier in the Task Bar
• Pressing Windows Key+Print Screen on Keyboard

I have this too. Someone else posted a video of the behavior here:

Windows 11 can't click mouse anywhere on lower 1/8th of screen - Microsoft Community

Even on an empty desktop, as you move down the screen, the cursor goes from normal to the blue-spinning-busy version. It's back to normal on the taskbar. When in that version, getting it to respond to things like buttons is difficult in that it only works every so often. I need to move the window around to get buttons into an active zone right now. It's insane sounding, I know. But, this is a clean work machine with nothing customized in here.

Version 10.0.22000 Build 22000

System Model ROG Zephyrus G15 GA503QR_GA503QR

It's not even just the bottom of the screen per se -- it's a rectangular zone down there

https://youtu.be/bSkCfRfIx2Y

Really - this is just a normal install using a static background wallpaper and no UI enhancements other than Windows powertoys (see vid)

I have found a temporary fix: Using the Task Manager, kill the background process named "Windows Input Experience". The problem will come back at the next reboot.

Windows 11 Pro. Version 10.0.22000 Build 22000

It would be nice to have a fix to this annoying bug.

Same problem here on Windows 11 Version 21H2 - Build 22000.469

As others have mentioned, it's as if there is an invisible window hovering close to the Start Menu button on the Task Bar. I can trace my mouse around the edge of this active area and the mouse cursor will stay busy the whole time. This has a negative impact on accessing the start menu, particularly the lower half of the menu. Likewise accessing links in some web pages is not possible as this invisible active area stays on top of all other windows.

The image below shows roughly where the active area is situated: