How find all the desktop appearance items like Windows XP

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  1. Posts : 945
    windows 10 professional 64-bit, 22H2
       #1

    How find all the desktop appearance items like Windows XP


    I have Windows 10 Pro, 64-bit.

    I'm hoping someone can help with this. In Windows XP, I was able to completely modify all types of settings. In Windows 10, thanks to a previous thread, I was able to find a lot of them in Win 10, by going to Start/Run & using "rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL desk.cpl,Advanced,@Advanced".

    However, it doesn't cover all the things that Windows XP had AND I was easily able to save my settings as a theme in Windows XP.

    1. Can someone please tell me where I can find additional settings in Windows 10?
    2. Once I make changes, is there an easy way to save all the changes as a theme that I can name?

    I've attached 2 screenshots: one of the items in Windows XP & one of Windows 10. So I'm looking for the place to make changes that aren't covered in the attached Windows 10 png.

    Thank you in advance,

    How find all the desktop appearance items like Windows XP-windows-10-appearance.pngHow find all the desktop appearance items like Windows XP-winxp-appearance1.png
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  2. Posts : 17,838
    Windows 10
       #2

    @phrab
    Your first image represents the color palette for High Contrast themes,
    your second image I don't recognize.
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  3. Posts : 945
    windows 10 professional 64-bit, 22H2
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Edwin said:
    @phrab
    your second image I don't recognize.
    Hi Edwin:
    Thanks for the reply. The 2nd image is a summary that I made from the options in Windows XP. I right clicked the Desktop, went to Properties/Appearance tab/Advanced. This is the screenshot in WinXP.How find all the desktop appearance items like Windows XP-clipboard04.pngThen I listed all the items & their color schemes, made modifications, & saved the results in a chart in Word. I was just trying to list all the options that I had in WinXP that I can't find in Win10. I'm guessing they must be somewhere, but I don't know how to find them.
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  4. Posts : 17,838
    Windows 10
       #4

    I wouldn't know how to find them either!
    Those settings are long buried in the Registry, in Stylesheets and various .dll's all over the place!
    To access a small portion of those, I'm almost certain it will take 3rd party software to do it.
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  5. Posts : 945
    windows 10 professional 64-bit, 22H2
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Thank you very much for the reply. I've been looking, but can't find 3rd party software that does this. Do you (or anyone else) know where I might find some?
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  6. Posts : 42,943
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #6

    Hi, please see this utility created by @Superfly
    S.M.A.C.C - Superfly's Mouse Assisted Color Chooser - - Windows 10 Forums

    It goes some way towards the missing (removed) GUI

    Other areas- explorer-related backgrounds- can be coloured using Quizo's Qttabbar (free). Quite a few appearance options there.

    How find all the desktop appearance items like Windows XP-snap-2017-04-17-07.59.09.jpg

    The borders- Aeroglass + an image set from its forum for rounded corners.

    However I find background colours are lost on resume from sleep/hibernation, so had to take special steps to automatically reapply what I created as a custom theme on resuming.
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  7. Posts : 3,453
       #7

    FYI: SMACC is not meant to emulate the properties of that applet - rather a rudimentary mock-up meant to aid theming in general.
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  8. Posts : 945
    windows 10 professional 64-bit, 22H2
    Thread Starter
       #8

    [QUOTE=However I find background colours are lost on resume from sleep/hibernation, so had to take special steps to automatically reapply what I created as a custom theme on resuming..[/QUOTE]

    Thank you so much for showing me this! I will try this ASAP. And thank you Superfly!

    Once I make the changes, how do I save it as a theme & reapply it?
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  9. Posts : 42,943
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #9

    Save as theme
    How find all the desktop appearance items like Windows XP-snap-2017-04-18-06.45.33.jpg

    How find all the desktop appearance items like Windows XP-snap-2017-04-18-06.46.28.jpgHow find all the desktop appearance items like Windows XP-snap-2017-04-18-06.46.42.jpg
    Schedule task

    Use script (Attached) which you need to edit to match your theme name, and then compile (easy, part of Autohotkey) to create the exe from the ahk script.

    I've been using that from Win 8 on.

    Install Autohotkey and the utility in the script (free)
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  10. Posts : 945
    windows 10 professional 64-bit, 22H2
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Thank you again!! I appreciate your time & expertise. I'm new to Windows 10 & was afraid to click on "Unsaved Theme", not knowing what it would do. This might also solve another problem with Firefox, as I found that somewhere in between Theme2 & Theme3, I did something to make their menus unreadable when I hover the mouse. I will let you know.
      My Computers


 

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