"Background" in MSPaint

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!

 

The background color changes with a Right click on the selected color. HTH

edit, I think ctrl+right click comes in to play also but haven't spent much time with Paint since it's not too sociable compared to most other graphics editors. I like PhotoSuite and Irfanview much better.

Good luck.

 

Zephyr (HTH??)--Thanks for your response.
You put me on the right track for changing the "Background" color in the MSPaint Color Box. It's a Control+Left click on the "background" box, then Control+Left click on the desired color. However that does not seem to accomplish anything, at least not in the opened graphic. The background in those selected graphics still remains blue.
As for Irfanview, I get the same blue background on these graphics!! I have emailed them. So far no response.

 

HTH is an acronym for Hope That Helps. It's gaining in popularity with help BB but I rarely see it used elsewhere. Maybe I haven't been elsewhere lately though.

Good luck with your quest. As I said, I can't offer a lot of guidance with Paint since I abandoned using it long ago for much the same reasons as you are seeing.

Regards.