For the corrupted colors issue:

## [DirectDrawFix][1] ##


You only need to run this once on *StarCraft.exe*. With this, there's no need to manually close, or use scripts that will close Explorer.exe everytime you run Starcraft.

> Windows Vista and Windows 7 break color compatibility with certain applications that depend upon palette-based, 256-color graphics. Due to changes to DirectX and DirectDraw, the colors of these applications and games may appear distorted under these newer operating systems. 
>
>DirectDrawFix will allow you to resolve this specific issue by applying required compatibility fixes to the registry. Elevation is required for this application to perform its updates.


  [1]: http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=11108