FastRes

As monitors got larger, so did resolution settings had to adapt in order to improve image quality. This doesn’t necessarily mean every screen is set to the highest resolution, while some programs or games may only run under specific options. In this regard and testing purposes, FastRes is a lightweight tool which allows you to quickly change resolution directly from the tray area.

It takes only a little while before you get a chance to go through all the application has to offer. It doesn’t really come with an interface of its own, sitting in the tray area nearly all the time. You’re notified it’s there right from the start, so you don’t end up scratching your head, wondering why the program doesn’t start.

Just to be on the safe side, the application doesn’t provide a list of all existing resolution options. Instead, it reads graphics hardware configuration to determine the supported screen resolutions, enlisting them in a dedicated menu. Moreover, resolutions come in three different color depths, such as 8, 16, or 32-bit formats.

The new resolution is applied at the press of a button, and gets checked in the menu so you know the current one, as well as its color depth value. However, you need to remember the original configuration to quickly return to it, because there’s no built-in option to revert changes to the previous configuration.

To have it ready when reaching the desktop, the options menu allows you to make it run with Windows. If not, there’s the possibility to assign a hotkey command to the program’s shortcut to quickly launch it whenever needed. Sadly, there’s no built-in support for hotkeys to configure a few resolution settings if they’re the only ones you need in testing, or other operations involving changing screen resolution.

All things considered, we can say that FastRes provides a fast alternative to change the resolution of your screen. Multiple color depth options are available for each supported resolution. It can run with Windows to have it ready at any moment, while the tray icon makes sure individuals of all levels of experience can benefit from what it has to offer.