You didn't say which operating system you are running. Go to - start -
settings - control panel and then click display. Under the display
dialog box click the - settings - tab. At the bottom left there is going
to be a scroll bar that says  - colors. Remember what it is set at.
Scroll until you see the 256 and select it then click ok. It will want
to restart your computer so let it. You said this only happens when you
read email so the email you are reading is probably formatted with a
color scheme that your computer can't read at it's present settings.
Once you change the color scheme all the colors may change on your pc.
If you don't like the new color scheme repeat what you just did and put
the original value back in. You also didn't say what you use to read
email. If you do not want to change the color scheme and want to read
the email go into the options menu of your email client and change the
settings to read/send email to plain text only.

Mick

>Hi everyone.
>Recently Windows has been prompting me that I need to be running in 256
>color mode.  This happens while I'm checking my email.  What does this mean
>and how do I fix it?  Thanks in advance.
>Jacob
>
>
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VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html