How to change tiles' background color in Windows 8.1 start screen?

Exactly Ida, you hit the nail right on the head!!!  I believe most people given the option, would prefer to customize these start screen  tiles. Features such as tile color, tile size, shape, font, images etc. An entire customization panel would be nice in order to add photos to tiles and the freedom to customize one's computer to completely reflect the owner's tastes and personality.  Why the folks at Windows decided it was better to restrict these basic tile and start screen customization options is so counter intuitive to Windows' innovative approach to improving on their previous operating systems. More needs to be done by listening to the feedback of its users.

Windows dropped the ball on this aspect of their operating systems and we can only hope and pray some talented, innovative computer programmer/engineer will write some great programs needed to get around these stupid design limitations.  "Freedom of choice" is what it is all about and we demand Windows implement a design panel where users can really customize their tile other than size small, medium large. Why not let us set our own size, color, shape, even animations, tiles that behave like widgets.  Every legitimate Windows owner/ user should have the options and necessary features to customize their own start screen, tiles and other system GUIs to reflect their own personal tastes, preferences and creativity not to mention the sheer fun of experimenting with various creative designs.  Windows people!!! I am begging you to please change this limited feature so we can customize our start screens, tiles and whatever else to fit our personal tastes, like changing system icons.  Why can't we customize every icon?  Why are some icons unchangeable?

Has anyone yet found any software applications that can execute these customizations?

Thanks folks!!

Sometimes Windows make it too dam hard to like their operating systems and the narrow-minded innovations,

Hi Winston M replied on October 30, 2013.

Well today is July 20, 2015, and I have the same question as troubada, but for Windows 8.1 Start screen tiles, NOT the desktop icons. 

Really MSN, it is two years later and you do not seem to have learned ANYTHING about what makes customers happy or unhappy. 

On top of being irritated at having to look up how to fix MSN's bad choices and learning that a similar problem existed two years ago and is not fixed yet, I still do not know how to fix the problem of customizing the tiles on the Start Screen (along with other bad choices fixes--I am having to devote a day to learning how to correct MSN's bad programming choices in Windows 8.1). 

Honestly, my screaming curses at MSN is just about an hourly event for every hour I am on my computer. I hate that MSN has such a monopoly. 

Ida

I agree with you about the 8.1 Icon color disaster.  What I really don't understand is how a company as large and robust as Microsoft had not thought of hiring an adviser to tell them when they are totally going off the road and into the ditch.  I work as a paid on-call adviser to a large California institution and they save thousands of dollars each year from careful assessments and input.  Based upon the usual current hourly rate for such work, I estimate the cost to not allow all their icons to degenerate into ugly colors would have cost them no more than $100.  I do believe Microsoft should consider hiring an adviser person. Perhaps, they could even think of a way to eliminate the annoying popup window at the edge of the display screen telling users to "swipe" when nobody I work with even has touch screen desktop computer displays. I think Microsoft may suffer from not actually testing their product with the existing hardware base.  Oakstone

The problem is that MS just dont give a sh** about its win8/8.1 customers, at the time it was only catering to its enterprise ones. The fact that MS wanted to make an OS that was interchangeable with their POS phone shows where the focus was, even tho it failed to work as intended. The result of this fail was a mass exodus from a windows based phone to anything else.  focus on Win10 is why this is still an issue and will never get fixed unless some 3rd party comes up with something. I seriously hope Win10 is better. i doubt it, but I still hope.

Thanks a lot!! I was seriously tired of staring at that pink screen!!!!

I agree with you about the 8.1 Icon color disaster.  What I really don't understand is how a company as large and robust as Microsoft had not thought of hiring an adviser to tell them when they are totally going off the road and into the ditch.  I work as a paid on-call adviser to a large California institution and they save thousands of dollars each year from careful assessments and input.  Based upon the usual current hourly rate for such work, I estimate the cost to not allow all their icons to degenerate into ugly colors would have cost them no more than $100.  I do believe Microsoft should consider hiring an adviser person. Perhaps, they could even think of a way to eliminate the annoying popup window at the edge of the display screen telling users to "swipe" when nobody I work with even has touch screen desktop computer displays. I think Microsoft may suffer from not actually testing their product with the existing hardware base.  Oakstone