Change the colors on your computer

You can change the color of your window frames, the Start menu, and the taskbar.

Open Personalization by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Personalization.
Click Window Color and Appearance.
Under Window Color and Appearance, click the color you want, and then click OK.

Note

If you see the Appearance Settings dialog box instead of the Window Color and Appearance window, the theme might not be set to Windows Vista, the color scheme might not be set to Windows Aero, or the computer might not meet the minimum hardware requirements for running Windows Aero. For more information, see Troubleshoot problems with Windows Aero.

To change the colors on your computer if you don't have Windows Aero

If you've determined that you don't have Windows Aero, you can still change some of the colors on your computer.

Open Appearance Settings by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, clicking Personalization, and then clicking Window Color and Appearance. If the Appearance Settings dialog box is not displayed, at the bottom of the page, click Open classic appearance properties.
Click Advanced.
In the Item list, click the part of Windows for which you want to change the color.
In the Color list, click the color you want.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each part of Windows for which you want to change the color, and then click OK.

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Applies to these editions of Windows Vista:

See also

Change the colors on your computer

Note

To change the colors on your computer if you don't have Windows Aero