What effect does the Pointer entry have in Visual Studio? In both Windows Forms and WPF, the Toolbox window presents the Pointer entry.
This Windows Forms article looks at the use of the Pointer entry in Visual Studio.
One of the features of Visual Studio is that you can click on an entry in the Toolbox, such as Button, and then "draw" the button onto your window. I prefer to simply drag the Button and then use anchoring to get the perfect dimensions, but some developers might want to draw their buttons.
Anchor in Windows Forms
However, this introduces a user interface problem into Visual Studio itself. When you click on the control and are allowed to draw it, you might want to change your mind and not draw anything. In this case, you can click on the Pointer entry in the Toolbox.
Basically, the Pointer is a "no control drawing" mode for Visual Studio. There is no Pointer control that can be added by clicking on Pointer. It is just there for making the Visual Studio interface a bit more usable.
This particular feature of Visual Studio 2008 and 2010 is confusing for some developers. I used to wonder myself how to use Pointer. Eventually I decided that, despite all appearances, Pointer isn't a real control. It is instead a way to enable drawing of controls in Visual Studio—kind of a meta-control.
Visual Studio Tips