diff --git a/redbot/__init__.py b/redbot/__init__.py
index 4440ad2d3..aaa5defc3 100644
--- a/redbot/__init__.py
+++ b/redbot/__init__.py
@@ -191,6 +191,29 @@ def _update_event_loop_policy():
             _asyncio.set_event_loop_policy(_uvloop.EventLoopPolicy())
 
 
+def _ensure_no_colorama():
+    # a hacky way to ensure that nothing initialises colorama
+    # if we're not running with legacy Windows command line mode
+    from rich.console import detect_legacy_windows
+
+    if not detect_legacy_windows():
+        import colorama
+        import colorama.initialise
+
+        colorama.deinit()
+
+        def _colorama_wrap_stream(stream, *args, **kwargs):
+            return stream
+
+        colorama.wrap_stream = _colorama_wrap_stream
+        colorama.initialise.wrap_stream = _colorama_wrap_stream
+
+
+def _early_init():
+    _update_event_loop_policy()
+    _ensure_no_colorama()
+
+
 __version__ = "3.4.10.dev1"
 version_info = VersionInfo.from_str(__version__)
 
diff --git a/redbot/__main__.py b/redbot/__main__.py
index 8810ef544..1af3486ea 100644
--- a/redbot/__main__.py
+++ b/redbot/__main__.py
@@ -22,9 +22,9 @@ import discord
 # Set the event loop policies here so any subsequent `new_event_loop()`
 # calls, in particular those as a result of the following imports,
 # return the correct loop object.
-from redbot import _update_event_loop_policy, __version__
+from redbot import _early_init, __version__
 
-_update_event_loop_policy()
+_early_init()
 
 import redbot.logging
 from redbot.core.bot import Red, ExitCodes
diff --git a/redbot/setup.py b/redbot/setup.py
index 20e9ba2ac..454b2bbe7 100644
--- a/redbot/setup.py
+++ b/redbot/setup.py
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ from copy import deepcopy
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Dict, Any, Optional, Union
 
+from redbot import _early_init
+
+_early_init()
+
 import appdirs
 import click