Vista: Keep Your Color Scheme from Being Changed

You finally get the color scheme looking just the way you want it, but the next time you use your computer, someone has changed the colors to something else. If your computer is used by other people (such as your children) besides yourself, you can keep them from changing your color scheme so that it stays the way you want it.

To keep the color scheme from being changed:

1. Open Notepad.

2. Copy and paste the following into the new text document:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
 
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"NoColorChoice"=dword:00000001

3. Save the document as lock_color_scheme.reg.

4. Merge the new file into the registry by right-clicking it, selecting Open With, and finally clicking Registry Editor.

5. Continue through the UAC prompt and confirm that you wish to perform the action.

If you need to restore the functionality, follow these steps:

1. Open Notepad.

2. Copy and paste the following into the new text document:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
 
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"NoColorChoice"=-

3. Save the document as unlock_color_scheme.reg.

4. Merge the new file into the registry by right-clicking it, selecting Open With, and finally clicking Registry Editor.

5. Continue through the UAC prompt and confirm that you wish to perform the action.