How to Reset Window Color and Appearance Settings

Brady Gavin
Brady Gavin has been immersed in technology for 15 years and has written over 150 detailed tutorials and explainers. He’s covered everything from Windows 10 registry hacks to Chrome browser tips. Brady has a diploma in Computer Science from Camosun College in Victoria, BC.
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How to Enable a Windows 8-Style Start Screen in Windows 10

Brady Gavin has been immersed in technology for 15 years and has written over 150 detailed tutorials and explainers. He’s covered everything from Windows 10 registry hacks to Chrome browser tips. Brady has a diploma in Computer Science from Camosun College in Victoria, BC. Read more.

Sep 21, 2018, 10:24 am EDT | 1 min read

Although most people prefer to forget about Windows 8 entirely, some people did enjoy the full-screen Start menu—especially those on tablets with touchscreens. Here’s how to get it back in Windows 10. Hit Windows+I to open up the Settings app. On the main page, click on the “Personalization” category.

On the left, choose the “Start” tab. On the right, turn on the “Use Start Full Screen” toggle.

It’s just that easy. The next time you hit Start, you’ll be able to see the Start Screen in all its glory.

No, it’s not exactly the same Start screen featured in Windows 8. It still uses Windows 10-style searching and menu buttons, and your taskbar is still accessible. But it’s pretty close.

RELATED: 10 Ways to Customize the Windows 10 Start Menu

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Brady Gavin
Brady Gavin has been immersed in technology for 15 years and has written over 150 detailed tutorials and explainers. He’s covered everything from Windows 10 registry hacks to Chrome browser tips. Brady has a diploma in Computer Science from Camosun College in Victoria, BC.
Read Full Bio »

How to Reset Window Color and Appearance Settings?

The classic Window Color and Appearance dialog allowed you to change the color and size (Window metrics) of various UI elements like Window background color, caption font, icon size, spacing, width, etc. Since this feature has been removed in Windows 8 and higher, you need to edit the registry in order to change or reset these parameters.

This post has the default Window Color & Appearance Settings registry files that reset these settings to defaults. This can be helpful if a theme or 3rd party customizer has changed your defaults, and you want to set them back right.

“Window” background changed to Turquoise, from the default White background.

Desktop icons became rectangles due to wrong icon spacing/width metrics

The settings are stored in the following registry keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Colors

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

“Colors” Registry Fix (Restore defaults)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors] "ActiveBorder"="180 180 180" "ActiveTitle"="153 180 209" "AppWorkspace"="171 171 171" "ButtonAlternateFace"="0 0 0" "ButtonDkShadow"="105 105 105" "ButtonFace"="240 240 240" "ButtonHilight"="255 255 255" "ButtonLight"="227 227 227" "ButtonShadow"="160 160 160" "ButtonText"="0 0 0" "GradientActiveTitle"="185 209 234" "GradientInactiveTitle"="215 228 242" "GrayText"="109 109 109" "Hilight"="51 153 255" "HilightText"="255 255 255" "HotTrackingColor"="0 102 204" "InactiveBorder"="244 247 252" "InactiveTitle"="191 205 219" "InfoText"="0 0 0" "InfoWindow"="255 255 225" "Menu"="240 240 240" "MenuBar"="240 240 240" "MenuHilight"="51 153 255" "MenuText"="0 0 0" "Scrollbar"="200 200 200" "TitleText"="0 0 0" "Window"="255 255 255" "WindowFrame"="100 100 100" "WindowText"="0 0 0" "Background"="0 99 177" "InactiveTitleText"="0 0 0" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Colors] "ActiveBorder"="212 208 200" "ActiveTitle"="10 36 106" "AppWorkSpace"="128 128 128" "ButtonAlternateFace"="181 181 181" "ButtonDkShadow"="64 64 64" "ButtonFace"="212 208 200" "ButtonHiLight"="255 255 255" "ButtonLight"="212 208 200" "ButtonShadow"="128 128 128" "ButtonText"="0 0 0" "GradientActiveTitle"="166 202 240" "GradientInactiveTitle"="192 192 192" "GrayText"="128 128 128" "Hilight"="10 36 106" "HilightText"="255 255 255" "HotTrackingColor"="0 0 128" "InactiveBorder"="212 208 200" "InactiveTitle"="128 128 128" "InactiveTitleText"="212 208 200" "InfoText"="0 0 0" "InfoWindow"="255 255 255" "Menu"="212 208 200" "MenuText"="0 0 0" "Scrollbar"="212 208 200" "TitleText"="255 255 255" "Window"="255 255 255" "WindowFrame"="0 0 0" "WindowText"="0 0 0" 

“Window Metrics” Registry Fix (Restore defaults)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics] "IconTitleWrap"="1" "Shell Icon Size"="32" "BorderWidth"="-15" "CaptionFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,\ 00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 "CaptionHeight"="-330" "CaptionWidth"="-330" "IconFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,00,\ 00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 "MenuFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,00,\ 00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 "MenuHeight"="-285" "MenuWidth"="-285" "MessageFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,\ 00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 "ScrollHeight"="-255" "ScrollWidth"="-255" "SmCaptionFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,\ 00,00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 "SmCaptionHeight"="-330" "SmCaptionWidth"="-330" "StatusFont"=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,\ 00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 "AppliedDPI"=dword:00000060 "PaddedBorderWidth"="-60" "IconSpacing"="-1125" "IconVerticalSpacing"="-1125" "MinAnimate"="0" 

Usage: Copy the above contents to Notepad and save the file with .REG extension. Double-click the file to apply the settings to the registry. You need to logoff and login back for the changes to take effect.

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