Creating a 256-Color Icon or Cursor
Using the , icons can be sized large (64 x 64) with a 256-color palette to choose from. To draw with a selection from the 256-color palette, you need to display the palette in the property page for the icon or cursor and select the colors from the property page.
To choose a color from the 256-color palette for large icons
Select the large icon or cursor, or create a new large icon or cursor.
On the View menu, click Properties. Select the Palette tab.
Choose the color from the 256 colors displayed in the palette.
The initial palette used for 256-color images matches the palette returned by the CreateHalftonePalette() Windows API. All icons intended for the Windows shell should use this palette to prevent flicker during palette realization.