Tech Tips

Increasing Color Depth

Question: How can I improve the appearance of colours on my computer screen?

Answer: As we all learned in elementary school, you can make nicer pictures with thirty different colours of crayon than you can with five. It works the same way with computer monitors - the difference is that you can control the number of colours that your screen can display at once. You may wish to do this because your display's "colour depth" was accidentally reset when your computer crashed, or if you simply want to make your screen a bit easier on the eyes.

In Microsoft Windows, right-click on your Desktop (the screen that contains your Recycle Bin and other icons) and in the menu that appears, click on the word "Properties." This will bring up your "Display" control panel - click on the tab called "Settings." About halfway down the settings screen, you should see the words "Color quality" or "Color depth" - click on the drop down list below it and you will see the following options: 256 colors, 16 bit (thousands of colours), and 32 bit (millions of colours) - there may be others, depending on your computer, but those are the most common.

Once you have selected the colour quality that you want from the drop down list, you can try it out by clicking on the "Apply" button - don't worry, Windows gives you the option to undo the change if you're not satisfied with the result.

If you can only see the option for 256 colours, then there may be a problem with your display hardware or software and you should contact a qualified computer technician.

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