Any apps to enable more color customization for Windows 7 interface?

you're right about the reflection. it's gone now, after i switched to another skin and back.

-----

for the progress bar, we've tried to change it to blue before but ran into trouble. you can see our attempts with screenshots starting in page 1 of this topic. so i'm wondering if you've figured out how to do it yet?

here's one of the screenshots from page 1...
shotil.png
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Ultimate x64
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
you're right about the reflection. it's gone now, after i switched to another skin and back.

-----

for the progress bar, we've tried to change it to blue before but ran into trouble. you can see our attempts with screenshots starting in page 1 of this topic. so i'm wondering if you've figured out how to do it yet?

here's one of the screenshots from page 1...
shotil.png

Ya I just looked back and no I have not got it any better sorry.

Jerry
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Win 7 Pro x64 / Win 10 ProIntel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz12 GB(1) Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (2) NVIDIA GeFo...
Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sager NP9170
OS
Win 7 Pro x64 / Win 10 Pro
CPU
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz
Motherboard
CLEVO P170EM
Memory
12 GB
Graphics Card(s)
(1) Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M
Sound Card
(1) Realtek High Definition Audio (2) Intel(R) Display Aud
Monitor(s) Displays
17.3
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
(1) Samsung 860 EVO 500GB(OS) (1) Samsung 860 EVO 500GB(Data)
Keyboard
Backlite
Antivirus
MSE, Malwarebytes Pro
Browser
Firefox
Other Info
DESKTOP: Custom-built.
OS: Win 10 Pro x64.
CASE: Rosewill R5.
CPU: Intel I5 4670K CPU @ 3.40GHz.
CPU COOLER: Cool Master Hyper 212 EVO.
MOTHERBOARD: Asus Z87-A.
MEMORY: Kingston HyperX 2x4 GB.
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 650 TI.
PSU: Corsair TX750.
DRIVES: (1) Samsung 840 120 GB SSD (2) Western Digital blue 500 GB 7200 RPM.
Make my Win7 Pro look exactly like WinXP Did

Windows 7's default UI customization feature set is lacking and incomplete. Any apps that can solve this?

Personally, I would be interested in an app for Windows 7 that will allow changing the "glow" color around the text of windows' titles. Because I use a dark theme and the current unchangeable white glow clashes with my dark theme. I would like to be able to set that glow to black and my windows’ title text to white.

...

I have done some of that for others see here http://www.sevenforums.com/themes-s...dows-title-text-bloom-effect-windows-7-a.html
Let me know if I can help.
Jerry


You say you can make the Win7 Aero theme look different. Let me explain my problem: like many folks, I am having problems with the new Win7 style for everything, by that I mean all the visual aspects of the PC, text, window colors, fonts, etc. My vision is not what it used to be, and I especially have problems with the "washed out" styles in everything (Windows and other 3rd party software) nowadays. Sometimes I cannot read what is on a screen at all, mainly due to the lack of contrast and the ultra-thin font styles used now (for example, I could not see anything on the default Win7 logon screen until I found an app that let me change it to a different darker blue background color -- whoever at MS that thought white text on a whitish background was "cool" for everybody in the world was a moron :=) ).

Much of the same applies to just about all the software nowadays. I have switched to the Aero theme, customized it via the Personilization tools to be at least somewhat legible for me. I have disabled all of the Win7 fancy visual effects etc. I have installed IE 10 and use my own CSS with that, but even there I sometimes cannot see the pages good, especially the pages/frames etc. that do not allow CSS adjeustments.

Many times the problem is that if, say, I change a style background from white to something like gray, then the text will not display at all on that page due to color problems or whatever.

A specific example of the visual problems: I use Acronis True Image as my backup software application. When I got my Win7 Pro machine, I upgraded from TI ver 11 to the latest Acronis TI ver 2013. Well, the style was so different that it wasas good as invisible to me, I could not even see the text on the screens due to the ultra-thin washed out colors and fonts. I had to go back to my ver 11 to be able to use it with my Win7 PC (which works fine, anyway, and is the versionI used with XP and no visual problems at all).

It is not that I need everything magnified. I can see fine when I use the default hi-contrast theme. But that theme does not work on 3rd party software most of the time. Nevertheless I use the HC theme most of the time I am on my PC, because it is easier for me to see, but of course it has its own limitations too.

I even bought the entire Stardock customization package, hoping to use the custom themes etc. to fix things, but it did not work at all for my needs. The custom themes out there are mostly just as bad for me as t5he native Win7 themes, and I would not even attempt to make my own cutom theme, it would be a disaster.

What I need is **native** WinXP Pro styles on everything, provided I can adjust that like I could on my ol;d XP Pro system using the built in WinXP customization for colors and text settings etc. So do you think you could design a true WinXP-stle theme that would work for me? If so, how much would that cost? I don't need anything other than what Windows XP itself had AFA icons, graphics, buttons, scroll bars, etc.

I really want a Win7 Pro system that looks and feels identiocal to how XP Pro looked. Is that possible? Or is there some app out there (not a custome theme thing, but just something that allows changing Win7 itself) that would resolve my problems so that I can actually enjoy using my PC again?


Pete Barnes
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 7601 ...Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G645 @ 2.90GHz8.00 GBIntel(R) HD Graphics
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
custom
OS
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
CPU
Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G645 @ 2.90GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. B75M-D3H
Memory
8.00 GB
Graphics Card(s)
Intel(R) HD Graphics
Sound Card
(1) Realtek High Definition Audio (2) Intel(R) Display Aud
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080 x 32 bits (4294967296 colors) @ 60 Hz
Hard Drives
(1) WDC WD10EZEX-60ZF5A0 (2) HP Officejet J6400 USB Device (3) WD My Book 1130 USB Device
Antivirus
kasperskys
Browser
ie 10
Windows 7's default UI customization feature set is lacking and incomplete. Any apps that can solve this?

Personally, I would be interested in an app for Windows 7 that will allow changing the "glow" color around the text of windows' titles. Because I use a dark theme and the current unchangeable white glow clashes with my dark theme. I would like to be able to set that glow to black and my windows’ title text to white.

...

I have done some of that for others see here http://www.sevenforums.com/themes-s...dows-title-text-bloom-effect-windows-7-a.html
Let me know if I can help.
Jerry


You say you can make the Win7 Aero theme look different. Let me explain my problem: like many folks, I am having problems with the new Win7 style for everything, by that I mean all the visual aspects of the PC, text, window colors, fonts, etc. My vision is not what it used to be, and I especially have problems with the "washed out" styles in everything (Windows and other 3rd party software) nowadays. Sometimes I cannot read what is on a screen at all, mainly due to the lack of contrast and the ultra-thin font styles used now (for example, I could not see anything on the default Win7 logon screen until I found an app that let me change it to a different darker blue background color -- whoever at MS that thought white text on a whitish background was "cool" for everybody in the world was a moron :=) ).

Much of the same applies to just about all the software nowadays. I have switched to the Aero theme, customized it via the Personilization tools to be at least somewhat legible for me. I have disabled all of the Win7 fancy visual effects etc. I have installed IE 10 and use my own CSS with that, but even there I sometimes cannot see the pages good, especially the pages/frames etc. that do not allow CSS adjeustments.

Many times the problem is that if, say, I change a style background from white to something like gray, then the text will not display at all on that page due to color problems or whatever.

A specific example of the visual problems: I use Acronis True Image as my backup software application. When I got my Win7 Pro machine, I upgraded from TI ver 11 to the latest Acronis TI ver 2013. Well, the style was so different that it wasas good as invisible to me, I could not even see the text on the screens due to the ultra-thin washed out colors and fonts. I had to go back to my ver 11 to be able to use it with my Win7 PC (which works fine, anyway, and is the versionI used with XP and no visual problems at all).

It is not that I need everything magnified. I can see fine when I use the default hi-contrast theme. But that theme does not work on 3rd party software most of the time. Nevertheless I use the HC theme most of the time I am on my PC, because it is easier for me to see, but of course it has its own limitations too.

I even bought the entire Stardock customization package, hoping to use the custom themes etc. to fix things, but it did not work at all for my needs. The custom themes out there are mostly just as bad for me as t5he native Win7 themes, and I would not even attempt to make my own cutom theme, it would be a disaster.

What I need is **native** WinXP Pro styles on everything, provided I can adjust that like I could on my ol;d XP Pro system using the built in WinXP customization for colors and text settings etc. So do you think you could design a true WinXP-stle theme that would work for me? If so, how much would that cost? I don't need anything other than what Windows XP itself had AFA icons, graphics, buttons, scroll bars, etc.

I really want a Win7 Pro system that looks and feels identiocal to how XP Pro looked. Is that possible? Or is there some app out there (not a custome theme thing, but just something that allows changing Win7 itself) that would resolve my problems so that I can actually enjoy using my PC again?


Pete Barnes


Welcome to the Seven Forums Pete

As for making a visual style that looks like XP and be able to use the color controls is not possible as far as I know.

There are some XP themes (visual styles) that have been made and work on Windows 7 but they are just nothing but customized aero themes.

Like my personal favorite theme Tavaris by ~charleston2378 on deviantART is a very nice dark theme but as you've already stated there is some software that don't display correctly so I have to switch to the aero theme to use them.

I agree Microsoft did not think too much about visually impaired people when it came to their themes.

Sorry I'm not much of any help here.
Jerry
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Win 7 Pro x64 / Win 10 ProIntel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz12 GB(1) Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (2) NVIDIA GeFo...
Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sager NP9170
OS
Win 7 Pro x64 / Win 10 Pro
CPU
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz
Motherboard
CLEVO P170EM
Memory
12 GB
Graphics Card(s)
(1) Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M
Sound Card
(1) Realtek High Definition Audio (2) Intel(R) Display Aud
Monitor(s) Displays
17.3
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
(1) Samsung 860 EVO 500GB(OS) (1) Samsung 860 EVO 500GB(Data)
Keyboard
Backlite
Antivirus
MSE, Malwarebytes Pro
Browser
Firefox
Other Info
DESKTOP: Custom-built.
OS: Win 10 Pro x64.
CASE: Rosewill R5.
CPU: Intel I5 4670K CPU @ 3.40GHz.
CPU COOLER: Cool Master Hyper 212 EVO.
MOTHERBOARD: Asus Z87-A.
MEMORY: Kingston HyperX 2x4 GB.
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 650 TI.
PSU: Corsair TX750.
DRIVES: (1) Samsung 840 120 GB SSD (2) Western Digital blue 500 GB 7200 RPM.
Thanks for the reply. I really didn't expect much, based on what I have read aboiut the limitations of ASero in Win7. If you should encounter any really good custom Aero theme that I can use for making Win7 look and work like WinXP, please let me know.

Pete Barnes
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 7601 ...Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G645 @ 2.90GHz8.00 GBIntel(R) HD Graphics
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
custom
OS
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
CPU
Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G645 @ 2.90GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. B75M-D3H
Memory
8.00 GB
Graphics Card(s)
Intel(R) HD Graphics
Sound Card
(1) Realtek High Definition Audio (2) Intel(R) Display Aud
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080 x 32 bits (4294967296 colors) @ 60 Hz
Hard Drives
(1) WDC WD10EZEX-60ZF5A0 (2) HP Officejet J6400 USB Device (3) WD My Book 1130 USB Device
Antivirus
kasperskys
Browser
ie 10
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