A few (not all) of the .gif files I have automatically acquire a blue background when I open them in Paint. (If I open these files in Internet Explorer there is nothing but the graphic, no blue background--so perhaps the native background is either white or transparent.) The effect of this is that, if I open in Paint and make some adjustments to the .gif (like size) and then Save, the saved graphic has the blue background, which I do not want.
In Paint's toolbar clicking Image|Attributes opens a window that at the bottom under the heading Transparency offers the choice to "Use Transparent Background Color" or to assign a color to the background. Maybe I do not understand what Paint means by Background, but
1) Before a graphic is loaded into Paint the Transparency part of that window is not active (greyed out)
2) The Transparency part does activate once the graphic is loaded, but then checking the box "use Transparent Background Color" or changing the color seems to have no effect on the background of the loaded graphic, which has already acquired the blue background. In addition, the color box under Transparency has automatically reverted to blue, even when it was set to white when viewing a previous .gif and/or when the box "Use Transparent Background Color" is checked
3) At the bottom of the Paint window is the Color Box which is supposed to set the "background" and 'foreground" colors. I can change the foreground color, by clicking on the colors offered, but I cannot make any change to the "background" color.
Paint's Help does not seem to offer any solutions.
Does any one have suggestions? Thanks!

------------------
Jim
WIN98, IE6, cable,
Norton AV, ZoneAlarm