The default Windows 8 Developer Preview
Start screen background is not appealing. If you decide to change the
background, you won’t find any option under Control Panel for the job.
The background image can only be replaced by editing a system file which
is a difficult task for most of Windows 8 users.
Windows 8 Start Tweaker
is a fantastic utility to change the default Start screen background
with a custom one. Unlike other tools, this tool also lets you change
Metro background color as well.
How to use Windows 8 Start Tweaker to change the Start screen background:
Step 1: Download Windows 8 Start Tweaker zip file from here. Right-click on the zip file and select Extract all option to get Win8StartTweaker.exe file.
Step 2:
On the first run, you might see the Chinese language. Worry not! Click
on the US flag (located at the bottom right) to change the language to
English.
Step 3:
Click on the default Start screen background image to select a new
image file. For best results, select an image file whose height is
double than the screen resolution. For example, if your screen
resolution is 1440 x 900, then the height of the image file should be
x1800 px.
Step 4:
Click on Metro background image to set a new Metro background color.
This color covers the logon screen, Start screen search and some other
areas.
Step 5: Finally
click on Apply button to see the change. Click Yes for the prompt to
automatically log off and log on your system to apply the changes. Even
though the tool lets you restore the original background and color, do
make a system restore point so that you can revert to the original Start
screen background and Metro color without any issues.
