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I have this old game that was made for Windows 95, so in XP I run it in compatibility mode (640x480, 256 colours). It runs fine. However, when I close it and Windows switches back to 32-bit colour, some colours don't look right. For example, the blue that is displayed around selected text now is a very bright light blue. A reboot fixes this, but is there any other way?

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What happens if you tweak your color setting after you exit the game? – Mark Turner Jul 15 '09 at 14:43
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One possibility is to use the free VirtualBox (or similar). Run it under a virtual machine (it shouldn't have performance problems if it is expecting a mid-nineties machine). After running it, you can quickly switch back to a saved state on the machine (or just switch back to the unvirtualised desktop).

It does use quite a bit of memory, and it probably isn't worth it unless you are going to use VirtualBox for other reasons (it can be quite handy for some).

(Disclosure: I currently work for the company that produces VirtualBox, but I don't work on it.)

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This seems interesting. It'd be much better if I could get Windows 95 or 98 and install it in the VM. – Javier Badia Jul 15 '09 at 14:47
This definitely the way to go for older DOS/Win9x games. VirtualBox or VMWare Workstation are both good solutions. Of course, VB is free, whereas VM costs. – Simon Gillbee Jul 15 '09 at 15:31
Try running Windows 3.1 in a virtual machine, and watch it scream. The most difficult thing to do is double click, if you haven't set up the VM right. You would basically have to double click faster that is physically possible. – Brad Gilbert Jul 15 '09 at 16:59
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