This tip is geared towards beginners. To customize your Windows 7 system you can adjust the base theme color used for window borders, the Start Menu, and the Taskbar. You can also choose whether or not the Start Menu, Taskbar, and window borders should appear semi-transparent, showing part of what is underneath.

1. Right-click an empty area of the Desktop and choose "Personalize" from the pop-up menu that appears.

2. The "Personalization" Control Panel appears. Near the bottom of the window, click on "Window Color".

3. The window changes to the "Window Color and Appearance" settings. From here you can do the following:

* Choose a base color - choose from one of the following base window colors (listed here in left-to-right order)

- Sky
- Twilight
- Sea
- Leaf
- Lime
- Sun
- Pumpkin
- Ruby
- Fuchsia
- Blush
- Violet
- Lavender
- Taupe
- Chocolate
- Slate
- Frost

* Next to "Color intensity", click and drag the slider to the right to make the color more intense - moving the slider to the left makes the color less intense.

* By checking or unchecking "Enable transparency", you can configure whether or not window borders, the Taskbar, and Start Menu appear semi-transparent.

* If you do not like the choice of colors, click the down arrow next to "Show color mixer". From here you can click and drag the sliders to adjust your desired color hue, saturation, and brightness.

4. When done, click "Save Changes" to close the "Window Color and Appearance" settings, then close the "Personalization" window.

Note that if you later change the theme this may alter your chosen window color.

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