how do i unscrew-up my Color Settings?

until recently, whenever i saved a file i was modifying in PS 7, whether by using Save As or Save for Web, the newly saved file looked exactly like the working file.

but, recently i tried to adjust the Color Settings. since then, whenever i save a file, it looks quite different (much more muted colors) than the original or working file.

neither the gamma nor the monitor calibration have been changed in any way. i tried uninstalling PS 7 and re-intalling it. nothing helped.

how do i restore the Color Settings so that the saved file looks like the original?

You probably changed your working space from sRGB to AdobeRGB.

actually, i changed it to AdobeRGB a few weeks ago. there was no problem. but, a few days ago i changed it to Pro Photo (or someting like that -- i'm at the office right now and don't have access to my home settings). since then, saved files have been way different from working files -- even though i've tried switching back to sRGB.

is there some way to restore the default Color Settings?

It sounds like you saved files without icc embedded. Try opening these files and assigning a different colour space: adobeRGB, sRGB,or ProPhoto.

thanks, Philo

If you us save for Web, the icc profile is stripped, hence the colour difference. prophotoRG is a wide gamut profile, recommended for pro photographers, in certain conditions (like for the capture of very saturated images...)