This color table in this file was uploaded by Dave Engfer to the MicroHelp Basic Users Group BBS. If you don't like the colors that QB 4.0 uses, you can patch it to show the colors you want. In order to effect your patches, do the following: Make a backup copy of QB.EXE. REN QB.EXE QB DEBUG QB R At this point, debug will show you the current register settings and the current instruction. Something like this: -r AX=0000 BX=0003 CX=82A0 etc. DS=xxxx ES=xxxx SS=xxxx etc. xxxx:0100 RD DEC BP The "xxxx" is the current code segment. On my machine, the value is 2A28. The color table that QB uses is located near the end of the QB program, specifically 3 full segments higher than "xxxx". That means you will need to add 3000 hex to the number of the segment shown. In my case, I would patch segment 5A28. Note that adding 3 to the first of the four hex numbers does the trick. Now, with the higher segment address in mind, display the existing color table. Remember, the segment on your machine is most likely different from mine, but the offset "5B6F" should be the same. On my system: d 5A28:5B6F gives the following table (on my system, "xxxx" is 5A28): xxxx:5B60 34 xxxx:5B70 30 4F 34 30 38 4F 47 34-38 70 71 74 07 47 0A 30 xxxx:5B80 3F 17 4A 00 07 70 70 0F-7F 70 78 0F 07 7F 70 70 etc. Below you'll find a table of the colors and what Dave thinks they represent. Note that some are marked "unknown". Dave suspects they may be related to rodents. You can change your copy of QB to display the various colors by changing the values in the table. The formula for determining color is the same as in Mach 2: Attribute=Background*16+Foreground. As an example, suppose you want to change the "top line highlight" to red on green (XMAS is only a month away!). The color attribute we want (in HEX for debug) is 2*16+4 or 36 decimal or 24 HEX. So, to patch that color: -e xxxx:5B71 24 -w -q REN QB QB.EXE Now, when you hold the Alt key (without pressing anything else), "File" appears in red on green. Enjoy! Mark Novisoff Original Color Addr Byte Effect --------------------------------------------------------------------- Red on Cyan 5B6F 34 The outline for the pulldown boxes Black on Cyan 5B70 30 The Color for the top line Bright White on Red 5B71 4F Top line Highlight (e.i. press 'Atl' and the option will highlight) Red on Cyan 5B72 34 Top line first letter highlight Black on Cyan 5B73 30 *Pulldown box text and background - 1 Bright Black on Cyan 5B74 38 *Pulldown box text and background - 2 Bright White on Red 5B75 4F *Pulldown box highlight line - 1 White on Red 5B76 47 *Pulldown box highlight line - 2 Red on Cyan 5B77 34 *Pulldown box first letters - 1 Bright Black on Cyan 5B78 38 *Pulldown box first letters - 2 Black on White 5B79 70 Frame around the Help box- Shft F1 Blue on white 5B7A 71 Help box selection area- Shft F1 Red on White 5B7B 74 Help box first letter highlight- F1 5B7C 07 Unknown 5B7D 47 Unknown 5B7E 0A Unknown Black on Cyan 5B7F 30 Bottom line prompt text Bright White on Cyan 5B80 3F Microsoft Copyright Notice White on Blue 5B81 17 Shift-F1 Help message text Notes- * - Microsoft uses two different color bytes for the pulldown boxes. 1 - This byte seems to be used for options with a highlight letter. 2 - This byte seens to be used for options without a highlight letter.