Pointer and toolbar in Vista Premium

Hi!
This is no panic (no, really) so take your time ;-) I'm a amateur at this
but I have my fix ideas how I want my desktop to look like and function. At
this moment, with a new Dell laptop and Vista Home Premium pre-installed, I'm
just fooling around and now to my issues.
1. My pointer, a lovely white dove, is always replaced with th default one
when I start the laptop (or re-starting). The solution is to get into the
Control Panel/Mouse and just click OK for the pointers, 'cause my owns are
already in the scheme. It's only an activating action and then it's fine to
the next re-boot but why does it returns to the default arrow??
2. Secondly, I have a toolbar of my own in the Activity Field (not sure of
the english term) and in Windows ME I could put it separately where ever I
liked on my desktop; as a floating window or on one of the "free" sides of my
desktop. How do I manage this in Vista?
I've tried to search for answers everywhere but haven't found any and hoping
this, my first time using this services, may help my quest in the beautiful
world of zeros and ones...
--
Regards Gandhi (peace on earth)