(idea) by the_effervescence Sun Feb 09 2003 at 0:20:22

Tired of the old gray background behind your toolbar in Internet Explorer?

Here's a handy-dandy and simple way to brighten up those menu commands:

  1. Click Start > Run on your Windows toolbar (or, alternatively, hold down the Windows button and hit R, where applicable.)
  2. Type in "regedit". This should open your Registry Editor. Be warned! Messing with many things in here can screw you more than you ever thought possible. Be fairly certain you know what you're doing before snooping around here. Luckily, you are only going to need to change one thing.
  3. Click on the HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Internet Explorer > Toolbar folders.
  4. On the right side of the window, you will see some variables and their respective values set. Right-click in this window and select New > String Value.
  5. Name this String Value "BackBitmap".
  6. Now right-click on the string you just created and click "Modify".
  7. In the value section, enter the complete filepath (i.e. "C:\Windows\Images\image001.bmp") to a bitmap (not JPEG, GIF, TIFF, etc) on your computer. You'll want to select either a) a good tessellating bitmap or b) a bitmap long enough to fit across your screen's current resolution.

Voìla! You are truly 1337 in the ways of the Registry. Obviously if you want to change the image, repeat the process, and if you want to revert back to your original (bland) background, just delete that string value from the Registry.

I like it!