>this selection (field active, no area selected) isn't available through the
>control panel. everything in the system uses the windows color setup.

Hmmm. Assuming text fields in all windows apps show this effert, and if all these computers are the same brand I would suspect it's either the card or video driver that causes this effect. I've seen things like it, though not exactly like this before.

Only workaround I can think of is changing the backcolor of the field class? I hate to cludge for specific hardware, but it also depends if this is going to be the only place this software is likely to be used I suppose.