Why do my 256 color icons only show up on my screen in 16 colors?
Why do the 256 colors in the icons seem "off"?
How do I change the icons of shortcuts in my folders and on my desktop?
How do I change the icon used by my system to display a specific file type?
How do I change cursors in Windows 95, 98 and NT?
In Explorer I normally see an actual graphic for all icons but this functionality has stopped?
My 256 color icons only show up on my screen in 16 colors even though my display setting is set at True Color- why?
Your system can't make out the use of 256/true color icons or cursors automatically. You have to "say" it to your system. Solution:
If you own Windows 98, there's a special option in "Settings / Control Panel / Display Properties / Effects" where you can switch on an option to display icons using all possible colors. Enable this option.I have 256 colors in the icons but the colors seem "off" - why?If you own MS Plus, it's no problem to "say" this to the system. Change the desktop settings in "Settings / Control Panel / Display Properties / Plus!". There's an option to display icons using all possible colors. Enable it.
If you own Microangelo 98, open Microangelo Engineer, select "Local System Update" from the Config menu, select the Systems tab and look for the first row where you can see the crayons symbol. There you can see the "Maximum Icon Colors". In case there are only 16 click the little button and choose the option "16bit - (Displays up to 65,535 colors)" or "24bit - (Displays up to 16 million colors)"
No Windows 98, MS Plus! or Microangelo available? No big problem. The freeware program MULEVEL (from Impact Software) will allow you to use and display high-color icons and cursors on your computer provided your video driver is running in High-Color or True Color mode. It's a very simple and easy program, with an included readme.txt for further instructions. Download MULEVEL now (13 KB).
If you are using a 256 colors system you probably have little problems with 256 color icons and cursors and, but the icons may display irrelevant colors. This is because Windows is able to display 256 colors, but the 256 colors are not the same colors everytime. The 256 colors vary because your system searches 256 colors which are requested in a special situation. If there's a picture of a sunset on your desktop, there are maybe 200 variations of red. If there's a picture with a blue sky, there are maybe 200 variations of blue. Your system selects the most appropriate 256 colors for this picture.Windows reserves only 20 standard colors for it's own interface elements, especially cursors and icons. These are the same colors everytime and for this reason you don't have any problems with 16 color icons and cursors. If you have a 256 color system, probably only 20 colors are perfect; the other colors are from other factors, such as wallpaper colors or picture colors e.g.. If there's a sunset, there's only a palette of red tones and in this case the 256 / true color icon looks terrible. So you should run a True Color or - much better - a High Color system to avoid this problems.
How do I change the icons of shortcuts in my folders and on my desktop?
To change a shortcut's icon in Windows 95, 98 and NT:
1-Click with the right mouse button on the current shortcut icon.
2-Go to Properties.
3-Click on the shortcut tab.
4-Press the Change Icon button.
5-Press the Browse... button.
6-Turn the tray either to Icon Files or All Files.
7-Browse through the directories until you reach the directory with the icon, icon library (ICL), or DLL library you wish to use.
8-Click on the icon file.
9-Press the Open button.
10-If an ICL or DLL file, scroll through the icons and select one.
11-Press the OK button.
12-Back at the shortcut's properties press the OK button and your desktop has the new icon for a shortcut.
How do I change the icon used by my system to display a specific file type?
To change the icon for a specific file type in Windows 95, 98 and NT:
1-Open the Windows Explorer.
2-Click on the View menu at the top of the Window.
3-Scroll down the menu to Options and then activate it.
4-Click on the File Types tab on the top of the Window.
5-Scroll through the file types until you reach the one whose icon you wish to change.
6-Then press the Edit... button.
7-Press the Change Icon... button.
8-Follow the Shortcut Icon changing procedure.
9-Once that is finished press the OK button to close the file type properties.