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Change the Background Log-On Color in Windows XP
~~Vic Ferri, WinTips and Tricks

Note - Normally, the background log on color is only visible when not using the Welcome Screen (the Welcome Screen covers the background color). To see what your background color is with the Welcome screen in use, press Ctrl Alt Del TWICE at the Welcome screen logon. By default, the logon background color is predefined to a royal blue, but because this color is registry controlled you can change it to whatever other color you prefer with a little registry editing.

Go to this key in your registry:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors

Select the Colors key and in the right hand pane look for the value named "Background" and Double click it.

You will notice that the color assigned to it is a three digit hex number (i.e.:  58 100 165).  This is the RGB (Red, green, blue) value of the current color assigned to the logon background.

Obviously, to change the color, you will need to know the RGB values of the color you wish to use.  Each of the three values can be a number between 0 and 255 which can provide over 16 million unique colors.

• Entering 0 0 0 would result in a black background.

• Entering 255 255 255 would result in a white background.

Here's an easy way to figure the RGB value of any color without having to use any utility

RIght click an open area of your desktop, go to Properties and then choose the Desktop tab.  In the Color drop down box, choose Other. You will notice that that the RGB values are displayed for whatever color is chosen. In this example, the color is 141 105 146:

Therefore, simply decide on the color you prefer by playing around in the color box and then take note of the RGB values displayed for it. Then assign those RGB values to the Background value in the registry.
Once the digits are entered , click Ok, and exit the registry.

To test the color change log off and log in again. During log in, you should notice that the background color has changed to the color you specified in the registry.

Vic Ferri owns the very popular WinTips and Tricks and Registry Answers.  Subscribe to either and receive free Windows and Registry Tips.  He is also in charge of the Printing Tips  pages at Linda's Computer Stop.  Vic has also created a program which allows you to Lock & Hide desktop folders in Windows 9X/ME.  Read more and get the free demo here.  And, he now offers a service to convert PowerPoint presentations to .exe files which can be viewed on computers which do not have PowerPoint installed.