Windows 7 - Changing the color of the task bar in a non-Aero theme

How do I change the color of the task bar on a non-Aero theme? I had to change my theme to a non-Aero theme because of graphics issues with certain software, but now my task bar and the app buttons are a light blue color, which makes the white text on the buttons difficult to read. I would love to have a darker color for the taskbar, but none of the Window Color options seem to affect the task bar color.

Who the heck decided the task bar would be this light blue color for a non-Aero theme? What controls it? This color looks ridiculous for the task bar.

You need a hacked uxtheme.dll to change the color of the taskbar. Silly, I know.

Look here for the tutorial:

Taskbar - Customize Skin

Right-click on the desktop,. choose personalize,. click the Windows Color entry,. then Advanced appearance settings.

You can't do that for Basic themes. For basic/non-aero themes you can't change the color of the taskbar, unless you patch uxtheme.dll and install a custom theme. Try switching to basic and seeing for yourself.

Patrick - a reasonable compromise which I use myself, is to use the Aero theme but with all the bells and whistles turned off - in particular, turning transparency off. This gives you a theme that is lightweight, and won't eat your battery life or clash with your gaphical programs, but will also allow you to customize the color of the taskbar. I don't like hacking the uxtheme, as the current patches have some shady phone-home stuff going on.

Codify,

How do I change the color of the task bar on a non-Aero theme?

I think non-Aero and Basic theme are the same thing and regardless of the fact, you still cant adjust the Taskbar colour in the advanced appearance settings anyway.

Yep

Where did you hear that? I'm using a patch and would be really pissed if it does that.

UxStyle Core 0.2.0.0 now available! Talk to us.

They've taken it out of the latest version - they said they had only been using it to monitor the stability of the patch. But I don't trust anyone that pulls that kind of stunt without informing me and getting consent during installation. Maybe I'm just paranoid

Thanks for the suggestions, however I did try an Aero theme with transparency turned off, but that didn't help. I may try it again with the window animations turned off and see if that helps.

This issue of a maximized window on the left screen bleeding over onto the right screen when using a Basic them is so annoying. Hopefully SP1 will fix it.

FYI we use 3D design software at my architecture office that has an all new ribbon-style interface with the current 2010 release. It's almost exactly like the Office 2008 interface. The graphical issues I've been having when using an Aero theme are things like the ribbon disappearing and reappearing at random times while performing various tasks. I haven't actually had any crashes since installing Windows 7 x64, but it just has that unstable appearance to it.