How to Change the Color of your Taskbar

The Taskbar is a very prominent feature of the Windows Operating System, not only since it has been a constant part of the OS ever since the now ancient days of Windows 98 but also because it is an extremely useful Windows feature. The Taskbar is a purveyor of some of the most important information to Windows users – from the Start Menu button and icons representing all of the programs running on a Windows computer at any given time which can also be used to switch between applications to the Notification Area and the date and time, the Taskbar has it all. 

On different versions of the Windows Operating System, the Taskbar has a slightly different default color. However, what is constant about the default color of the Taskbar across all versions of the Windows Operating System is the fact that most users get bored of it quite quickly and want to change it. Thankfully, changing the color of the Taskbar on a Windows computer is not only entirely doable but is also a pretty simple procedure, although the exact process varies slightly depending on what version of Windows you’re using. Here’s how you can change the color of the Taskbar on different versions of the Windows Operating System:

On Windows 7

1. Right-click on an empty space on the Desktop.
2. Click on Personalize in the resulting context menu.
3. Click on Window Color.
4. Click on the tile of your desired color under Change the color of your window borders, Start Menu, and taskbar to select it.
   Note: If you like absolutely none of the color tiles available, simply click on Show color mixer and play around with the options under it to basically create your own, custom color.
5. Check or uncheck the checkbox beside the Enable transparency option depending on whether or not you want your Taskbar to be transparent.
6. Use the Color intensity slider to determine just how intense you want the color of your Taskbar to be.
7. Click on Save changes to apply the changes you have made to the color of your Taskbar. 

On Windows 8/8.1

1. Press the Windows Logo key + C to open the Charms menu.
2. Click on Settings in the Charms menu.
3. Click on Personalization.
4. Click on Color in the Personalization window that opens up.
5. Click on the tile of your desired color under Change the color of your window borders, Start Menu, and taskbar to select it.
   Note: If you like absolutely none of the color tiles available, simply click on Show color mixer and play around with the options under it to basically create your own, custom color.
6. Use the Color intensity slider to determine just how intense you want the color of your Taskbar to be.
7. Click on Save changes to change the color of your Taskbar to the new color you have selected. 

On Windows 10

1. Right-click on an empty space on your Desktop.
2. Click on Personalize in the resulting context menu. 
3. In the left pane of the Personalization window, click on Colors.
4. In the right pane of the Personalization window, enable the Show color on Start, taskbar, and action center option, and disable the Automatically pick an accent color from my background option. 
5. Under Choose your accent color, click on the tile for the color you want your Taskbar to be changed to in order to select it.

Once you do so, the Taskbar of your Windows 10 computer will be changed to the specified color. On Windows 10, in addition to changing the color of your Taskbar to a color of your choosing, you can also configure Windows to change the color of the Taskbar to match the color scheme of the background of your Desktop. With this option enabled, Windows will make sure that the color of your Taskbar matches the basic color scheme of your Desktop background. To enable this option, all you need to do is:

1. Right-click on an empty space on your Desktop.
2. Click on Personalize in the resulting context menu. 
3. In the left pane of the Personalization window, click on Colors.
4. In the right pane of the Personalization window, enable the Show color on Start, taskbar, and action center and Automatically pick an accent color from my background options. 

As soon as you do so, the color of your computer’s Taskbar will be changed to blend in with and complement the color scheme of your Desktop‘s background. In addition, as you change your Desktop background, the color of your Taskbar will also be automatically changed to match the color scheme of the new background.