Number 209 - October 2000
Windows 95/98 TIP - Color Settings
from June 2000 QBits, Quad Cities Computer Society
    Ever wonder why some people have very detailed icons on their desktops, while others look quite simple? The way in which Windows displays colors using few colors or many is determined by the color palette setting (and your hardware, of course).

    Right-click the desktop, select Properties, and click the Settings tab. Click the down arrow under Colors, and you'll find several choices: 16 Colors, 256 Colors, High Color (16 bit), and True Color (32 bit). Each represents a different color palette.

    For maximum performance1, opt for 16 Colors. The fewer colors Windows uses, the faster images appear on the screen. (The downside is with only 16 colors available, you'll end up with mottled images.) 256 Colors is a happy medium. You get good performance and fairly good image quality. For more realistic
images (but slower performance), you should opt for High Color, a palette of more than 65,000 colors. Finally, True Color allows for about 16.8 million colors--a setting typically used by those who work with graphics professionally.

    Given these differences select a setting, click OK, and restart Windows. And don't worry--if you aren't happy with your selection, you can always change it back using these same steps.


    1 Performance usually means speed, or responsiveness to keyboard and mouse commands--not capacity. However, capability to store large amounts of data, temporarily, in cache memory, is often a necessary adjunct to achievement of high-speed operations.
  Number 209 - October 2000