Windows 8 Secrets: Aero Auto-Colorization

Part five in a series of co-posts by Windows 8 Secrets co-authors Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott.

In Windows 7, Microsoft added a new Personalization interface, allowing users to customize their desktops as they wished. But a few obvious features were missing, and in Windows 8, the company is finally filling in the gaps. Today's revelation is one such feature: The ability to automatically configure the color of Aero elements, like the Start Menu, Windows Explorer windows, and the taskbar based on the desktop wallpaper.

To make this change, you visit the Personalization interface, which is basically unchanged since Windows 7, and then click Window Color. As you can see below, there's a new option in the grid of window color swatches: Automatic. (Microsoft removed one of the brown colors to make room.) Click this and then click the Save changes button.

New to Windows 8: The ability to automatically color Aero based on the underlying wallpaper.

Now, as you rotate through different wallpapers, the window color will change to match the wallpaper (in Aero mode only). Some examples can be seen below.

--Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott