Displaying Hi-Color Icons without the Plus Pack

1. HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ desktop \ WindowMetrics
2. Create or edit the string 'Shell Icon BPP'
3. Modify it's value data to a number representing the color depth you wish. This number is in bits, not colors. BPP stands for Bits Per Pixel
4. The default is 8-bit (256 colors)