Does anyone know....

[evil Homer 0]

...if the new SP2 explorer.exe can be modified to allow 256 colours in the system tray?

 

I know that there was a modified version released very soon after SP1, which stopped icons in the system tray being displayed in 16 colours.

 

I know its not that important, but I can't stand seeing the icons that way

 

Homer

[Vespers 0]

Make Better Looking Windows Icons

Windows icons are set to a default of 4 BPP, a simple change to 16 adds depth and color

 

to the icons.

 

Navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]

and change the Shell Icon BPP from 4 to 16. "Shell Icon BPP"="16"

or 32 or 256 whatever you want, 16 is usually more than enough....

[Xiven 0]

Very nice, but that has absolutely zero effect on the system tray icons.

[CUViper 0]

yes, it can - here's how to do it. If you don't know how to use a hex editor (or don't want to bother), I will post the hacked exe tomorrow.

 

Open explorer.exe in a hex editor

go to offset 0x1ECC

change 'FF 74 24 18' to '6A 11 90 90'

save the modified file to a temporary directory

 

 

Once you have the hacked exe, here's how to use it:

 

Open the task manager (ctrl-shift-esc)

on the processes tab, end explorer.exe

go to File->New Task(Run...) and type 'cmd'

copy the new explorer.exe to these locations, in order:

\WINNT\ServicePackFiles\i386

\WINNT\system32\dllcache

\WINNT\

type 'exit' to close the command prompt

go to File->New Task(Run...) and type 'explorer'

 

et voila!

 

Like I said, I'll post the hacked exe tomorrow (if the admins here don't have a problem with that, of course). If you have any problems, let me know.

[CUViper 0]

well I was going to post it, but I found it on another site already - http://www.chez.com/hoiby/TrayIconIn256Color/

[evil Homer 0]

I'd appreciate the exe actually, as Hex Editing goes way over my head.

 

If the Admins have a problem with the file being posted or linked to here, then please email me

 

Cheers for your help

 

Homer

[evil Homer 0]

LOL

 

Too quick for me.... You replied whilst I was replying.

 

That was the site I originally looked at, looks like the guy updated today....

 

Homer