Here's what it looks like for me. I'm using the S3 SVGA driver.

I've never seen washed out colors like that.

Thanks for the post keenmaster486. I don't remember ever seeing this either, I didn't even think it was possible to re-define the color palette in Windows 3!

Do you know which version of Windows you're using? Is it Windows 3.11 For Workgroups?

Yes, it's WFW 3.11.

The stock VGA driver's palette is generally brighter/less saturated than what you'd get on any other higher color depth driver. This is perfectly normal, real behavior and also is the same deal on any newer Windows (that maybe isn't 10).

Also, the oft-recommended S3 video driver (mostly recently popular for bringing DOSBox's S3 Trio HLE to work in Win3.1) takes creative liberties of its own and changes the color scheme a bit nowadays to the point people think this is the official Win3x canon color scheme now.

Thanks for the confirmation keenmaster486.

And thanks for the info leileilol. I switched to the S3 driver and the colors now match what I remember.

This is odd to me because my first computer only had a VGA display and ran Windows 3.0, but I remember the colors being more-saturated. However, I wonder if my memory has been clouded after I upgraded to Windows 95?

Win 3.0 had a different VGA palette in its driver IIRC. Win3.1's VGA driver uses the palette everyone knows (And the other VGA driver became an alternate choice in some MMPACK that some OEMS ship sometimes)

^That's right, Afaik. Windows 3.0 Setup program used a different type of dithering/gradient for the background, too.
Another thing that comes to mind: Windows 3.0 had a lighter coloured "blue" title bar than Windows 3.1x.

Also, Windows 3.0 in Real-Mode supported the old Windows 2.x palette and colouring, provided that a
compatible Windows 2.x graphics driver was loaded. In that case, Windows 3.0 even has the Windows 2.x
buttons and icons (minimize, maximizie, program manager icons etc).

If memory serves, the Palettized VGA driver (640x480 16c) from Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions was
similar to the old Windows 3.0 VGA driver, but allowed for color-cycling, a features used by a few games and WinFract.
This device driver also works for Windows 3.1x, I believe.

PS. I wished my PC was still up and running, but I'm limited to a Raspberry Pi right now. 🙁

Edit: There's something that makes me wonder and that I have got no answer for..
The Windows 3.1 VGA drivers is said to support "dirty-retangle" (only updates parts of screen that have changed).
- Is that also true for Windows 3.0 standard VGA driver and/or the palettized VGA driver ?

Hi again, just remembered a place with lots of screen shots featuring various GUIs..

https://guidebookgallery.org

For Windows 3.x vs 3.1 comparison click of one of these links..

https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/win30
https://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/win31

Source: https://guidebookgallery.org/guis/windows/win30

PS: You can also visit Toasty Tech page, too, of course.
Also remember that Windows 3.0 used dithering in the title bar.
- With a little bit of blur and gamma increased, the desktop rather would look like this.:

It's not perfect, of course, but gives an idea how it may looked on some CRT screens in the 90s,
if the user decided to increase brightness a bit, so things would be good visible in the office or something.

Update. Found a screen shot that comes close to what you posted in the first posting..

Source: http://toastytech.com/guis/win30.html

With a little bit of editing again, it looks even more washed out..: