Re: Issues with "My Current Theme"

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From: Keith Miller (k.miller79_at_verizon.net)
Date: 03/07/04 

Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 00:57:56 -0600

Exactly right, Bryan. Here's what I posted recently:

"Keith Miller" <k.miller79@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:%23kXhW3OAEHA.3048@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> User have sometimes reported that menu buttons in programs other than Explorer (notepad, etc.)
lose
> the default background and show as white or the custom menu color they have chosen. Reapplying
the
> XP buttons & menus style would fix the problem, but custom colors were lost.
>
> I think I've found the problem bit but would appreciate feedback as I only have my system to play
> with.
>
> To replicate this problem:
>
> First, a clean slate:
> In Display properties -> 'Appearances' tab, select 'Windows Classic Style' (don't apply), then
> select 'Windows XP style' and click 'Apply'. Open an Explorer window & note that menu selections
> are shaded when you hover over them; open a Notepad window and note no change in menu items when
you
> hover, but shaded when selected.
>
> Save and reapply:
> Now, click the 'Themes' tab, and use the 'Save As..' button to save the settings to a .theme file.
> Select another theme from the droplist (no need to apply) then reselect the theme you just saved
and
> click 'Apply'.
>
> Now look at the Explorer window -- nice 3D effect when you hover over the menu buttons! Now look
at
> the notepad window -- Yuck! and it gets uglier as you click on them!
>
> The culprit??? UserPreferencesMask, found under HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop.
>
> Specifically, bit #1 (0x02) of the 3rd byte is set when applying the XP styles, but gets cleared
> when a user-saved theme is reapplied. I imagine that switching amongst saved themes is how most
> users end up with this. So if you menus look bad, and UserPreferencesMask looks like this:
> be 7e 05 80
>
> change it to:
> be 7e 07 80
>
> and logoff/logon for changes to take effect (killing & restarting explorer does not seem to be
> sufficient).
>
> I'd appreciate it if those so inclined would play with this and see if they can replicate what
I've
> found.
>
> Thanks,
> Keith
>
>

You can edit the userpreferencesmask as described or set your menu color to match the color for 3d
objects, which gives a passable appearance.

Keith

"Bryan" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6EB64C79-472A-4031-A0B4-E715D732C7F3@microsoft.com...
> I have noticed this problem on two separate machines, a Win XP Home and one Win XP Pro, running an
AMD and Centrino chipsets, respectively.
>
> I use the typical/standard Windows XP Theme. In that theme, when I use Internet Explorer, for
example, and move the mouse over the menu bar, the menu items are highlighted in blue. However, if
I select "My Current Theme" as the option, the menu bar items appear as 3D when selected. In some
applications, like Media Player or Adobe Reader, the menu bar displays different colors of gray.
When I move and select menu items in these applications, portions of the menu bar change color to
the lighter gray color.
>
> What is going on here? Has anyone else run into this issue as well. I believe the problem also
occurs if I save out the standard Windows XP Theme to a file, such as My Favorite Theme and then
re-load that theme.

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