System 7: When the Finder Loses Its Colors

My colors sometimes disappear in the Finder. Especially my desktop patterns, labels, and window frame colors. Also, my general control panel colors sometimes switch to black and white. Why is this?
When an application, INIT or control panel "takes away" colors from the Finder, the Finder tries to replace the colors. Unfortunately, the Finder is not "intelligent" about this. A "used" color is no longer available to the Finder. This is very noticeable in 4-bit mode, 16 colors. When the Finder doesn't have enough choices, it often defaults to black and white
until the colors are "given back."

Restarting the computer is one of the actions that restores the colors. It may also be necessary to restore the
label colors to their original values. Search on label colors for more information.
Published Date: Feb 18, 2012