Changing Colours in Windows 7

Ease of Access Center has replaced Accessibility Options in the ‘Control Panel’.

Open ‘Ease of Access Center’ press ‘Windows’ logo key + ‘U’ or click Start button ‘Control Panel’ + ‘Ease of Access’ + ‘Ease of Access Center’.

Under ‘Explore all settings’, ‘Tab’ to and ‘Enter’ or click to select ‘Make the computer easier to see’.

Fig 1

Click to select or press ‘Alt’ + ‘C’ to select ‘Fine tune display effects’ and open the Appearance Settings window, see Fig 1 and 2.

Fig 2

Fig 3

To select a Color scheme ‘Tab’ to or click to select a scheme or use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the options.

Click on or ‘Tab’ to ‘OK’ to accept the changes.

To change individual colours repeat the process above and in Appearance Settings press ‘Alt’ + ‘D’ or click to select ‘Advanced’.

Fig 4

Press ‘Alt’ + ‘I’ or click to select ‘Item’ and use the arrow keys to scroll through the list of items, for example Window, see Fig 3.

To change the Window colour, press ‘Alt’ + ‘L’ or click to select ‘Color 1’ and press ‘Alt’ + ‘O’ to select ‘Other’ to bring up the colour grid, see Fig 4.

Fig 5

Press ‘Alt’ + ‘B’ to select ‘Basic colors’ and use the arrow keys, or click to select a colour. Press the ‘Spacebar’ to select and press ‘Enter’ or click ‘OK’ to return to Appearance, see Fig 5.

Fig 6

To change the colour of text, for example the Window text colour, press ‘Alt’ + ‘R’ or click to select ‘Color’ press ‘Alt’ + ‘O’ to select ‘Other’ and open the colour grid.

Press ‘Alt’ + ‘B’ to select ‘Basic colors’ and use the arrow keys and press the ‘Spacebar’ or click to select a colour.

Press ‘Enter’ or click to select ‘OK’.

From the Desktop

You can also change the windows Color and Appearance by right clicking anywhere on the desktop and select ‘Personalise’.

From this screen you can select windows themes including ease of access themes, Fig 7 and 8.

Fig 7

Fig 8

By selecting ‘Windows Color Custom’ you can go directly to the screen in Fig 3 above.

Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies - contact your local IT support for further help.

Please also note that these descriptions may be subject to change as the information is based on a beta version of Windows 7.