So, after giving VS2012 a try a few days at the default settings, I couldn't keep working like that, and I found the "Visual Studio 2012 Color Theme Editor" so I could put some dividers back between the frames. Wow. Suddenly I can work again.
But I still cannot see my scrollbars. What setting is it that controls the thumb and the background on a scrollbar? None of the settings have a scrollbar picture next to them, and none of the ones I've toggled have any effect. And there are a lot of settings
to work through... I'd rather not try them all.
The current colors are
Thumb RGB= 232, 232, 236
Background RGB= 208, 209, 215
I'm not sure who thinks these have significant contrast, but they clearly have better eyes or a more expensive monitor than I do.