Active Window Color and Appearance has changed and can't change back!

Hello,

Thank you for visiting Microsoft Community.

As per the description, I understand that your Windows color and appearance have changed. I will certainly help you with the issue.

I would suggest you to follow the steps mentioned below:

Method 1:

Run the display quality troubleshooter. It checks to see whether your color calibration, video effects, and most importantly, your display settings are correct.

Open the Display Quality troubleshooter

Method 2:

I would suggest you to try the steps suggested by Azeez N replied on July 13, 2010 in the following thread and check if it helps.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_7-desktop/wallpaper-changes-automatically-after-computer/e16738c2-1f2e-46cf-9b65-247ded591f8e

For additional information, you may also refer to the link below:

Make changes to your desktop background slide show

Hope this information helps.

Reply us with the status of the issue.

Hello,

Thank you for your response. I appreciate your time.

I would suggest you to follow the steps mentioned below:

Method 1:

Step 1: Boot the computer in Safe mode and check if the issue persists.

Safe mode starts Windows with a limited set of files and drivers. Startup programs don't run in safe mode, and only the basic drivers needed to start Windows are installed.

Refer to the link below on instructions to get In Safe Mode.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-computer-safe-mode#start-computer-safe-mode=windows-7

Step 2: If the issue does not persists in Safe Mode then perform a clean boot to check if any third party application is causing the issue, as clean boot helps in eliminating software conflicts.

How to perform a clean boot in Windows:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

***Note:***After troubleshooting, refer to this section ‘How to reset the computer to start normally after clean boot troubleshooting’.

Method 2:

Reinstall your video driver

1.       Right-click the taskbar, and then click Start Task Manager.

2.       Click the Processes tab, click explorer.exe, and then click End Process.

3.       Click File, and then click New Task (Run).

4.       In the Open text box, enter explorer.exe, and then click OK.

5.       Click the Start button , enter device manager in the search box, and then, in the search results, click Device Manager.

6.       Double-click Display adapters, right-click your display device, click Update Driver Software, and then follow the steps in the wizard that appears.

Method 3:

If the above methods won’t help, try to Perform System Restore:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/restore-system-files-and-settings

System Restore helps you restore your computer's system files to an earlier point in time. It's a way to undo system changes to your computer without affecting your personal files, such as e‑mail, documents, or photos.

Important Note: When you use System Restore to restore the computer to a previous state, programs and updates that you installed are removed

For additional information, you may refer to the link below:

Update a driver for hardware that isn't working properly

Hope this information helps.

Thank you, however in more troubleshooting I attached an extended display and everything appears quite normal on the external display. Something appears to be interfering in the laptop display only. No doubt some sort of hardware issue (virus?). But it's not a problem with brightness or resolution or color mix, etc. It's definitely a specific pattern that affects different windows and/or borders. I took this screenshot on the laptop display, but it appears all normal.  What I see on the laptop screen is browser window appears light blue wherever there should be white (all lt. gray colors still appear lt.gray, almost white) and the Intel graphics window to the right appears to have a patterned red tint all along the lighter background wallpaper graphics. So it appears not to be a software issue related to Windows. Weird.