Why my pen or paintbrush tool has asteriks next to it whole time while drawing?

[diana23778786b8p2]

Hello I have this problem a lot of times, sometimes my pen or brush is working normally -without brush with asterisk next to the line I am drawing, but sometimes just happens that it´s there and it´s making it also a bit harder to paint and do some things. I tried to look for this problem a lot but seems like it should be there but only when you want to start the line and I have it there all the time while drawing. When I dont have this problem the brush icon is not there and everything goes more smooth. Dont know if I explained it good enough, I also wanted to put screenshot but the paintbrush is not showed there, really dont know why, I also restarted my laptop and its still there. I am not advanced with illustrator so dont know what it can be, if someone can help me will be happy. 

[tromboniator]

Hi, Diana – I have no explanation for why the asterisk is visible after you have started to create a path. You may need to try resetting the preferences to see if that will clear up the problem. You say "When I don't have this problem the brush icon is not there" – is there a × instead? That should occur if you engage the caps lock, or if you go to Preferences > General and engage Use Precise Cursors. If that is acceptable, I would suggest using that setting until someone more knowledgeable than me offers a solution to the asterisk problem.

Peter