1. A method for controlling movements of a pointer through computer processing, the pointer being displayed on a display device, comprising the steps of: dividing a display area in which the pointer is movable into a predetermined number of regions; acquiring a current position of the pointer; determining in which of the divided regions the pointer is present (hereinafter referred to as a present region); computing a speed scale-factor for the pointer based on an image characteristic in the present region; and setting, as a moving speed in the present region, a normal moving speed of the pointer multiplied by the speed scale-factor.