Cant get color to go back to 256.I try but it always resets to 16. Any info please!

Try re-installing your graphics cards drivers.... but first - uninstall them.
1. Use the programs uninstall first (if applicable)
2. Use Add Remove Progs if u can't do 1. above
3. start up in safe mode and remove anything that claims to be an adapter (graphics) after you have done 1.+2. above.

Go to My Computer > Properties > Graphics adapter - does it have a yellow exclamation mark next to it?

What card / mobo adapter have you got? ATI/Nvidia PCI/AGP?

Are you sure that you only had 256 colours before? Is it a very old PC with a 14" monitor? Or were you running at a very high resolution (i.e. very small icons on your screen) so that the graphics card couldn't handle displaying a high resolution AND lots of colours at the same time.

As a point of reference, the first colour graphics cards (which I'm sure must have been before I was born!) displayed (4-bit) 16 colours. Then they came out with 8-bit colour in the late 80's / early 90's which gave 256 colours. Most people today are running 24-bit colour - 16,700,000 colours ...... and many of us have got even more than that.

At the risk of getting slapped for thread hijacking - can anyone actually differentiate between any two sequential colours out of 32 million, or 24 million come to that?

Yours running away with the thread yelling:
"It's mine I tells ya..."

Only with my glasses on!

What colour are your glasses?

Erm, I think the colour's called "Pantone", lol