To Merlin2: I went to mouse pointers and went back to the default pointer. This stopped the flashing cd symbol. When I changed the pointer back to an animated one, I got the flashing back. I guess I'll just have to be content to use the basic non-animated pointer.
to dl65: There are many different cursors, used for different situations, like test select, link select, when the computer is busy or working in background, and these can be changed by going to control panel>mouse>pointers
To raptor: It doesn't seem to matter if there is a cd in any of the drives or not. I think I may have a faulty driver, but that is another matter.
Thank you all for your help.
fanob5