Why did my cursor change to an up arrow?

Is it possible to change the BLINKING VERTICAL LINE cursor in Word to a different image other than a line?

• I know I can change the mouse pointer (the little arrow), but that's not what I want to change. I want to change the blinking vertical line cursor (that moves with the text). My company just got a new voice recognition program that has a stupid red rectangle box that moves along with the voice and outlines each word as it moves, and since I'm A.D.D. it's EXTREMELY distracting to me and it's driving me crazy! I've learned that there is no way to hide this but to get a manager/administrator to do it (my system is not equipped to get rid of it). I thought maybe if my blinking cursor were more prominent than just a blinking vertical line, maybe the red rectangle would be less distracting. (And - I don't want to go to my managers and ask them to turn it off for me -- my medical issues are not their business. Plus, I don't want to sound like a whiner; I'm hoping I can just find another solution.) Thanks!

• Answer:

  Pretty sure you can't change it but you can make it stop blinking, control panel -> keyboard -> cursor blink rate. I hate moving things, they distract me too. Sorry if that's not the answer you're looking for though