SQL Server 2008 Management Studio has a new, little known feature that lets you set custom colors for your saved connection properties for different SQL Server instances. This allows you to save a specific color for different types of servers; for example red for Production, green for Test, etc. You have to set the color individually for each saved connection, but you only have to do it once.
After you have done this, it will be much more obvious whether you are connected to a Production server in a particular query window. This might help prevent you from making a very costly, resume updating mistake, such as TRUNCATING your Customers table in Production…
Here is how you set this property for each connection:
Open the “Connect to Server” dialog
Click on the “Options” button
Click on the Connection Properties tab
Check the “Use custom color” checkbox and click on the “Select…” button
Choose a fairly dark background color (so the text will be visible), and click on the “OK” button.
Notice the green background color for the connection information at the bottom.
