imaginaryperson

Well, at least for metro they are hardcoded (which sucks). Borders might be different, but I'm not so sure after seeing this failed attempt at a modern UI which technically smells like 1999. Edit: You might try to track back that registry setting that you 've found via IDA Pro (or simliar), that 's what you could do. Maybe that 's a starting point for finding the correct offset.

Well, don't just replace the dll 's with the old ones as they are not only used for colorization but for many other things as well. Instead edit the current dll 's with a hex editor, search for the color 's hex values using a screen color picker (you might need a converter that converts rgba to hex like this one) and after finding the correct values (i.E. for 100% black you 'd search for 00 00 00 FF - usually written 0x000000FF) , modify the last two bits which are used for the alpha channel. FF means that the opacity is set at 100% and 00 means the color is set at 0% opacity. And remember to make a backup of the orginal files, as well a system restore point first. Edit: I've successfully edited the metro look in uxtheme.dll to my likings this way.

Win 8 RTM 9200 (x64), Multimonitor-Setup. Works, following this guide This tool manages to change the second screens taskbar color, independent of the color settings (haven't bothered to look into it any further yet): http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Other-Desktop-Enhancements/Windows-7-Taskbar-Color-Changer.shtml It seems like Microsoft is using RGBA everywhere, I just can't get why those idiots disabled any customization aside for preselected choices. Simple transparency would be possible but only with patching and replacing dlls. It 's just that blur seems gone and an completely transparent alpha channel would cause display issues (reminds me of early OpenGL bugs). Also, if anyone is disliking the RTM skin (like those ugly close buttons) you are able to just do a downgrade to RP without patching anything at all: http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/35554-Windows-8-RP-Visual-Style-for-8-RTM-and-Server-2012-RTM Edit: Seems like this tool generates a copy of your current wallpaper with the selected taskbar color applied. Clever idea, but only usable if you are able to completely disable the taskbars background-color first. Edit 2: Screenshot possibility with WIN + PRINT shortcut is gone when using Win 7 Explorer. Edit 3: This tool removes the empty show desktop button on the right side: http://www.door2windows.com/windows-7-show-desktop-button-remover-remove-windows-7-show-desktop-button-with-one-click/