Mouse arrow disappears

They say there is no such thing as a dumb computer problem , but they may have to rewrite that saying! This past week, the mouse arrow will freeze and there is no way I can get it to move. Sometimes it completley disappears. The only way I can shut down is by flipping the power switch. then when I start it up again, it goes through the usual scan for when it is not shut down correctly. then when I try to get back on line, it will freeze up again, and I have to shut down again.
By any chance is there something I can do or rather am I doing something to make this computer act this way? So far tonight it is working OK, for me, I have Eartthlink and I went online with Netscape. Usually I use Internet Explorer and that is where most of the trouble is. I also have AOL on my machine (daughters account), which froze up on her when she tried to use it this afternoon at my house. Am I headed for big trouble? Doris