# Changing Color Depth **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 25, 2002, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-color-depth/105574 "2002-04-25T17:31:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sdimbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sdimbert/32/20204_2.png) [@sdimbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sdimbert)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-color-depth/105574/1 "2002-04-25T17:31:46Z")
I’ve got a… errrr… a productivity app ;)… that only works with the screen set to 256 Colors. But, I don’t like working that way in general - I usualy leave things set to 24-bit color. I’d like to create a little app (is this a “batch file”?) to: [ol] [li]Change the color depth[/li][li]Launch the app[/li][li]Rest the color depth when I quit the app[/ol][/li] I know this would be pretty simple on the Mac - I’ve written AppleScripts before. But I need this to work on my Win98 PC. Anyone know how? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Harvey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@Max\_Harvey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Harvey)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-color-depth/105574/2 "2002-04-25T17:46:10Z")
You didn’t say if you were going through Display Properties to change the color depth, but assuming you are, you can get a little taskbar app called QuickRes, made by Microsoft and on their website somewhere, that will let you simply right-click the icon and select a new resolution and color depth from a pop-up menu. Not as convenient as a batch file doing it automatically for your ga—uh, productivity app, but it’s a lot less hassle than the ol’ right-clicking the desktop way. ---
**Author:** ![Opengrave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/919ad9/32.png) [@Opengrave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opengrave)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-color-depth/105574/3 "2002-04-25T18:23:52Z")
It may be a bit of work but you should also be able to create an app in VB or C (or C++ or whatever) and change the applicable registry key. ---
**Author:** ![SouprChckn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@SouprChckn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SouprChckn)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-color-depth/105574/4 "2002-04-25T20:44:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Harvey \* > \*\*You didn’t say if you were going through Display Properties to change the color depth, but assuming you are, you can get a little taskbar app called QuickRes, made by Microsoft and on their website somewhere, that will let you simply right-click the icon and select a new resolution and color depth from a pop-up menu. Not as convenient as a batch file doing it automatically for your ga—uh, productivity app, but it’s a lot less hassle than the ol’ right-clicking the desktop way. \*\* I’m not sure exactly what QuickRes entails but if all you want is a system tray icon that has a menu to change resolutions or color depth, it’s built into the display properties (at least for Win98). It can be found at: Display Properties \> Settings \> Advanced \> General Check the box that says “Display settings icon in task bar”. ---
**Author:** ![sdimbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sdimbert/32/20204_2.png) [@sdimbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sdimbert)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-color-depth/105574/5 "2002-04-25T21:08:15Z")
Actually, [this](http://qres.softwarecave.nl/) is what I was after. Once it’s installed, you just right-click on any shortcut icon to change its properties… there’s a new tab called Qres that lets you tell Qres to change resolution when launching the app and change it back when you’re done. Cool.