Windows 7 - Always use hover color in taskbar when window is active (like Ubuntu)

Question

Is there a way to use the hover color whenever my app is open -- like on Ubuntu? (The rightmost is what I want whenever chrome is open)

Would make it significantly easier to see which window/application is currently active + the color effect is quite nice in my opinion.

Answer 1

1. It's not easy to do, but you can use a UxTheme patcher or service, edit the appropriate image resources (see below) in the default aero.msstyles and apply your custom theme.

   

   See here for a detailed tutorial.

2. If doing it yourself is not your cup of tea, someone's already done it for you here (read all instructions carefully).

   

3. You can also use an app such as TaskBowFree:

   TaskBowFree is a taskbar replacement for Windows 2000, Window XP and Windows 7. TaskBowFree can paint programs on the taskbar, and it's convenient: you can find programs that you are looking for faster, because the human eyes have a good response to different colors.

   TaskBowFree is taskbar with colored buttons, which you can reorder and paint as you wish by mouse easily.

   

   Assignments

   TaskBowFree can assign colors to programs. By default, when you first start TaskBowFree, it has several appointments colors for applications that are commonly used: MS Notepad, MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook. In addition, Taskbow contains "pink" coloring all the windows with the word "media" in the title. So, if you run the MS Media Player or Explorer open the folder "C:\Media\", a program in the taskbar will be pink. Also, you can assign color to program name.