How to change window colors in Vista with Aero off?

Hi guys,

The title pretty much says it all. I don't need any of the Aero fancy features nor do I like any of them, except the ability to preview windows by hovering the mouse over their taskbar locations, but I can live without that. So I have been using the Windows Vista Basic color scheme. However, it seems that using that scheme forbids any change of window colors.

Is there anyway I can put some color on my windows using the Vista Basic color scheme?

Thanks in advance!

 

Do you mean right click desktop -->Personalize -->Window color and appearance -->Advanced -->item ?

 

enable aero, it helps your processor and allows to change everything to your likes.

 

Not really, but you have additional options. There are TWO locations for setting Themes: the first, mentioned by 0.0 above, is located at Personalization, Window Color and Appearance, but the 2nd, and equally important Theme setting is located at Personalization, Theme, Theme Settings. (This 2nd setting controls colors, sounds, icons, etc.) You can get a wide range of choices by setting the first at either Aero or Windows Classic, and the 2nd Theme Settings at Modified, My Current Theme, Windows Vista or Windows Classic.

 

How does it help my processor? I thought Aero made the computer use more power...

 

That didn't help. Thanks anyway

 

Well for one thing, your sig shows you got a Nvidia Quadro NVS 160M which will handle all the aero 3d no sweat and you should not see any noticeable slow down. The GPU will handle the aero so your processor will not even feel it. And even if it did your processor is so fast you still won't notice anything.. I would just turn the aero on and enjoy. You should only be using the basic theme if you have a weak system with low ram and a crappy GPU.

But what I think davepermen was implying is that with aero enabled, your gpu will pick up the slack on the 3D desktop and put less stress on your processor. But anyway, if your system could not handle aero then I would expect that the majority of users would have gave up on aero a long time ago and that is simply not the case.

The only time I turn aero off is when I am under battery power since the power saver mode turns it off. And in that regard, its worth it since the aero will consume more power.

 

Have you considered enabling Aero but disabling transparency? That should allow you to change the colors a bit and also enable the thumnail previews.

Running aero wont drasticaly reduce your battery life. There are greater battery hogs(LCD's for example) which consume far more power and reducing brightness for example will have a greater impact than by turning aero off. IMO, you would probably only save at most 1 - 4% depending on your usage.

 

The thing is that enabling Aero heats up my GPU a few degrees, and that causes the fan to come on. Although the slow speed is quite quiet, I still prefer it stopped

And @miner: yes, I have already tried that. I wouldn't even use Aero with transparency on, it's too confusing to me. Thanks for the tip though.

 

Have you tried changing your power settings to power saver mode? When plugged in the aero is still on but my fan runs allot less and is quieter. So the power saver mode does allot more to conserve power then just graphics. In my case, I have not seen any noticeable performance drops when using the PS mode and my machine also runs cooler as well. But buying an extended battery for my dv6500 did wonders since it raised the rear off the table which raised the intake vent.. that helps and if you have anyway of doing that I highly recommend it.

 

Good idea. I'll try that

As for raising the back, I use my computer docked, so there's no big chance to do that. In fact, I think the docking station does the trick, unless it blocks the air intakes

 

I wonder what all the power saver mode does? It turns off aero for one thing, but the overall increase in battery life is incredible.. probably 40 percent more for me.. at least if not more and that is with 70 percent screen brightness. If you have not used power saver mode I would give it a try.

 

my docking blocks the air, that's why i don't use it anymore.

and yes, that was what i ment: your gpu is much better at drawing big rectangles than your cpu. enabling aero actually shifts the workload of desktop-drawing there, where it's most efficient to do. your fan should not come on, you really have to fix that .. never had that happening so far on any systems with aero.

and for anything else: it depends on the system wetter aero saves or eats battery power. it depends on what needs more power to draw the same thing in the end. but yes, disabling transparency helps as it reduces the gpu's work.

having aero on makes your system a big more snappy (you may think about disabling the animations but i love them, makes the os more fluid and, for me, help me much with orientation on screen).

good luck fixing your fan problem.

 

Doesn't the E6400 dock cause the laptop to operate at higher temps anyway? That's probably your heat issue.

 

Yeah, I just remembered that and undocked the laptop. It seems that has more influence than Aero.

It seems that a docked E6400 is just almost at the temperature threshold that turns on the fan. Oh well. I'm being a bit picky anyway -- the fan at its slow speed is hardly audible anyway.

Thanks for all the tips guys. I have enabled Aero and will enjoy it

 

make a hole into the docking

 

I think that might (it just might) void my warranty.

 

it might..

 

It does more than just turning off Aero. Depending on the laptop, it can cut the max cpu speed along with setting the GPU run at its lowest frequency. So, yeah you are going to see a good increase in battery life. but, overall when you look at it turning off Aero wont really help much to extend the battery life, even the lower end GPU's like the X3100 run it fine.

 

Get Vista Battery Saver, have it switch to Power Saver on Battery and never take off Aero and that way you can have the flip 3d etc, without the transparency or anything else speeding up your fans. In fact, your system should run super cool with that.

 

You can't change the window border color of Windows Aero Basic but if I remember correctly you can change the "3D Objects" option to change the white background color of most windows. You can also switch to Windows Classic to change the windows borders, or change to a "custom" theme. Mentioned above, the Vista battery saver is really useful.