Private Declare Function GetDesktopWindow Lib "user32" () As LongPrivate Declare Function GetDC Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long) As LongPrivate Declare Function ReleaseDC Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, _    ByVal hDC As Long) As LongPrivate Declare Function GetDeviceCaps Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hDC As Long, _    ByVal nIndex As Long) As LongPrivate Const BITSPIXEL = 12Private Const PLANES = 14' returns the max number of colors supported by the video cardFunction MaxSystemColors() As Long    Dim hWnd As Long    Dim hDC As Long    Dim bitsPerPixel As Long    Dim colorPlanes As Long    Dim bits As Integer        ' get the device context of the desktop window    hWnd = GetDesktopWindow()    hDC = GetDC(hWnd)    ' the number of bits per pixels    bitsPerPixel = GetDeviceCaps(hDC, BITSPIXEL)    ' the number of color planes    colorPlanes = GetDeviceCaps(hDC, PLANES)    ' number of bits for each pixel    bits = bitsPerPixel * colorPlanes    ' no video card has more than 1.6 million colors    If bits > 24 Then bits = 24    ' evaluate the result    MaxSystemColors = 2 ^ bits    ' release the device context    ReleaseDC hWnd, hDCEnd Function