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I've tried the "High Contrast" feature, it doesn't quite do what I want.

MacOS will inverse the color of every pixel -- I think their graphics card does some final rendering on the entire screen, treating it as one large image.

"High Contrast", in 'contrast' (har har), is changing font settings, font color settings, etc.

user35997
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If someone ever find this thread, looking for inverting their screen colors, they might be glad to know I created a little program which do exactly that :)

It's called NegativeScreen and it's a simple but complete program written in C# (sources open)

You can try it out here.

Melvyn
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  • This would be even better if it didn't need Windows Aero, but that would probably add 900% more work to make 1% of the users happier. :) – Gordon Gustafson Oct 20 '13 at 23:21
  • I find that NegativeScreen is better for the 2 following reasons. It doesn't lag my mouse like the Magnifier does. It doesn't override shortcuts that I use in other applications. – Simon LG Jan 09 '14 at 15:29
  • An excellent solution. It's even possible to fine tune by the config file for inverse video with low blue light, which is my preference. – Sam Watkins Nov 17 '15 at 12:59
  • This post is old, so I thought I'd pop in and verify that as of March 2019 this nifty little program still works perfectly! However it also still requires Aero, which is a minor drawback. Very minor. – Ben W Mar 14 '19 at 10:03
  • The "legacy" version (which does not use the better full-screen api) does not require Aero. It still complains about it when it starts since performance is not great when graphic acceleration is not available, but it is optional... (and the warning can be disabled through the configuration) :) – Melvyn Mar 14 '19 at 14:11
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You can use the Magnifier in Windows 7. Unlike the one in Vista, it doesn't use a window.
Select "Turn on color inversion" in the options and it will invert the screen colors only.

Tamschi
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  • Doesn't quite do what I want. I want my entire screen inverted, so I can use it. (Easy way to get white-on-black text in my windows) – user35997 Aug 12 '10 at 02:07
  • But that's exactly what it does in Windows 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW_w7vWJOhQ – Tamschi Aug 12 '10 at 09:07
  • That's neat...but is there any way to hide the magnifier interface? – Shinrai Aug 12 '10 at 14:27
  • Yes, I must be missing something. When I run magnifier, a new window appears, (a view port into my current desktop). Only that view port is color-inverted. And I can't actually interact with its contents. What I want is (1) no view port at all, (2) my entire desktop color-inverted, (3) ability to interact with the desktop as usual. Exactly what the video had. What am I missing? – user35997 Aug 12 '10 at 16:53
  • Hmmm, my magnifier's "Views" menu has several options, including Full Screen. But all are grayed out, except "Dock", which doesn't do anything when clicked. – user35997 Aug 12 '10 at 16:56
  • Hmmm, Full Screen is only available for Aero Themes. http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/how-to-use-windows-7-screen-magnifier/ – user35997 Aug 12 '10 at 16:57
  • I just changed to an Aero Theme, but still can't use Full Screen. What gives? And why should my choice of background matter here? – user35997 Aug 12 '10 at 16:59
  • This is not so much about the theme itself, but rather the way Windows draws to the screen. The classic themes render (almost) directly into the screen buffer, where it can't be accessed efficiently. When you're using an Aero theme, everything is rendered into a buffer first. This is needed for the glass effects and also allows programs to access the screen much faster. You may have to restart your PC for the changes to take effect for all applications. – Tamschi Aug 12 '10 at 19:05
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    Okay, much better solution: there's a "diagnose Aero problems" command you can find from your Run menu (search for it). Turns out that Aero was turning itself off (silently!) because I had a USB video card whose max color setting was 16 bits -- less than the 32 bits required for Aero to run. – user35997 Aug 13 '10 at 23:11