diff --git a/source/global/settings.bas b/source/global/settings.bas
index d2e16837c..10a0379f7 100644
--- a/source/global/settings.bas
+++ b/source/global/settings.bas
@@ -1,2 +1,40 @@
 'Used for debugging the compiler's code (not the code it compiles) [for temporary/advanced usage]
 CONST Debug = 0
+DIM SHARED IDECommentColor AS _UNSIGNED LONG, IDEMetaCommandColor AS _UNSIGNED LONG
+DIM SHARED IDEQuoteColor AS _UNSIGNED LONG, IDETextColor AS _UNSIGNED LONG
+
+ConfigFile$ = "internal/config.txt"
+ConfigBak$ = "internal/config.bak"
+
+IF _FILEEXISTS(ConfigFile$) = 0 THEN
+    'There's no config file in the folder.  Let's make one for future use.
+    WriteConfigSetting "'[CONFIG VERSION]", "ConfigVersion", "1"
+    WriteConfigSetting "'[IDE COLOR SETTINGS]", "CommentColor", "_RGB32(85,255,255)"
+    WriteConfigSetting "'[IDE COLOR SETTINGS]", "MetaCommandColor", "_RGB32(85,255,85)"
+    WriteConfigSetting "'[IDE COLOR SETTINGS]", "QuoteColor", "_RGB32(255,255,85)"
+    WriteConfigSetting "'[IDE COLOR SETTINGS]", "TextColor", "_RGB32(255,255,255)"
+
+    'go ahead and set default values automatically
+    ConfigFileVersion = 1
+    IDECommentColor = _RGB32(85, 255, 255)
+    IDEMetaCommandColor = _RGB32(85, 255, 85)
+    IDEQuoteColor = _RGB32(255, 255, 85)
+    IDETextColor = _RGB32(255, 255, 255)
+ELSE
+
+    result = ReadConfigSetting("ConfigVersion", value$) 'Not really used for anything at this point, but might be important in the future.
+    ConfigFileVersion = VAL(value$) 'We'll get a config file version of 0 if there isn't any in the file
+
+    result = ReadConfigSetting("CommentColor", value$)
+    IF result THEN IDECommentColor = VRGBS(value$, _RGB32(85, 255, 255)) ELSE IDECommentColor = _RGB32(85, 255, 255)
+
+    result = ReadConfigSetting("MetaCommandColor", value$)
+    IF result THEN IDEMetaCommandColor = VRGBS(value$, _RGB32(85, 255, 85)) ELSE IDEMetaCommandColor = _RGB32(85, 255, 85)
+
+    result = ReadConfigSetting("QuoteColor", value$)
+    IF result THEN IDEQuoteColor = VRGBS(value$, _RGB32(255, 255, 85)) ELSE IDEQuoteColor = _RGB32(255, 255, 85)
+
+    result = ReadConfigSetting("TextColor", value$)
+    IF result THEN IDETextColor = VRGBS(value$, _RGB32(255, 255, 2555)) ELSE IDETextColor = _RGB32(255, 255, 255)
+
+END IF
diff --git a/source/ide/ide_methods.bas b/source/ide/ide_methods.bas
index d8a6879e5..6c124d280 100644
--- a/source/ide/ide_methods.bas
+++ b/source/ide/ide_methods.bas
@@ -6162,44 +6162,10 @@ idet$ = LEFT$(idet$, ideli - 1) + MKL$(textlen) + text$ + MKL$(textlen) + RIGHT$
 END SUB
 
 SUB ideshowtext
-static IdeShowTextInit as integer
-STATIC CommentColor as _unsigned long, QuoteColor as _unsigned Long
-STATIC MetaCommandColor as _unsigned long, TextColor as _unsigned long
-
-if IdeShowTextInit <> -1 then
-    IdeShowTextInit = -1
-    If _fileexists("internal\IDEcolor.txt") then
-        f = freefile
-        open "internal\IDEcolor.txt" for Input as #f
-        input #1, r, g, b :        line input #1, junk$
-        CommentColor = _RGB32(r, g,b)
-        input #1, r, g, b :        line input #1, junk$
-        MetaCommandColor = _RGB32(r, g, b)
-        input #1, r, g, b :        line input #1, junk$
-        QuoteColor = _RGB32(r, g, b)
-        input #1, r, g, b :        line input #1, junk$
-        TextColor = _RGB32(r, g, b)
-        close #f
-    else
-        f = freefile
-        open "internal\IDEcolor.txt" for Output as #f
-        print #f, "85, 255, 255,  'Comment RGB Color"
-        print #f, "85, 255, 85,   'MetaCommand RGB Color"
-        print #f, "255, 255, 85,  'Quote RGB Color"
-        print #f, "255, 255, 255, 'Text RGB Color"
-        close #f
-        CommentColor = _RGB32(85, 255,255)
-        MetaCommandColor = _RGB32(85, 255, 85)
-        QuoteColor = _RGB32(255, 255, 85)
-        TextColor = _RGB32(255, 255,255)
-    end if
-end if
-_palettecolor 11, CommentColor, 0
-_palettecolor 10, MetaCommandColor, 0
-_palettecolor 14, QuoteColor, 0
-_palettecolor 13, TextColor, 0
-
-
+_palettecolor 11, IDECommentColor, 0
+_palettecolor 10, IDEMetaCommandColor, 0
+_palettecolor 14, IDEQuoteColor, 0
+_palettecolor 13, IDETextColor, 0
 
 cc = -1
 
diff --git a/source/qb64.bas b/source/qb64.bas
index 94abf2260..77c8295d7 100644
--- a/source/qb64.bas
+++ b/source/qb64.bas
@@ -24014,6 +24014,111 @@ LOOP
 StrReplace$ = a$
 END FUNCTION
 
+SUB WriteConfigSetting (heading$, item$, value$)
+SHARED ConfigFile$, ConfigBak$
+DIM CRLF AS STRING
+IF INSTR(os$, "WIN") THEN CRLF = CHR$(13) + CHR$(10) ELSE CRLF = CHR$(10)
+
+InFile = FREEFILE: OPEN ConfigFile$ FOR BINARY AS #InFile
+OutFile = FREEFILE: OPEN ConfigBak$ FOR OUTPUT AS #OutFile
+placed = 0
+IF LOF(InFile) THEN
+    DO UNTIL EOF(InFile)
+        LINE INPUT #InFile, junk$
+        'we really don't care about heading$ here; it's only used to make things easier for the user to locate in the config file
+        junk$ = LTRIM$(RTRIM$(junk$))
+        IF _STRICMP(LEFT$(junk$, LEN(item$)), item$) = 0 THEN
+            PRINT #OutFile, item$; " = "; value$
+            placed = -1
+        ELSE
+            PRINT #OutFile, junk$
+        END IF
+    LOOP
+END IF
+
+CLOSE #InFile, #OutFile
+IF NOT placed THEN 'we didn't find the proper setting already in the file somewhere.
+    'Either the file was corrupted, or the user deleted this particulat setting sometime in the past.
+    'Now we look to see if the heading exists in the file or not.
+    'If it does, then we place the new setting under that heading.
+    'If not then we write that heading to the end of the file to make it easier for the user to locate in the future
+    'and then we write it below there.
+    OPEN ConfigBak$ FOR BINARY AS #InFile
+    l = LOF(InFile)
+    out$ = item$ + " = " + value$ + CRLF
+    temp$ = SPACE$(l)
+    GET #InFile, 1, temp$
+
+    l1 = INSTR(temp$, heading$)
+    IF l1 THEN
+        l1 = l1 + LEN(heading$) + LEN(CRLF)
+        PUT #InFile, l1 + 1, out$
+        r$ = MID$(temp$, l1 + 1)
+        PUT #InFile, l1 + LEN(out$) + 1, r$
+        placed = -1
+    END IF
+    IF NOT placed THEN
+        PUT #InFile, l + 1, CRLF
+        PUT #InFile, , heading$
+        PUT #InFile, , CRLF
+        PUT #InFile, , out$
+    END IF
+    CLOSE InFile
+END IF
+KILL ConfigFile$
+NAME ConfigBak$ AS ConfigFile$
+END SUB
+
+FUNCTION ReadConfigSetting (item$, value$)
+SHARED ConfigFile$
+value$ = "" 'We start by blanking the value$ as a default return state
+InFile = FREEFILE: OPEN ConfigFile$ FOR BINARY AS #InFile
+IF LOF(InFile) THEN
+    found = 0
+    DO UNTIL EOF(InFile)
+        LINE INPUT #InFile, temp$
+        temp$ = LTRIM$(RTRIM$(temp$))
+        IF LEFT$(UCASE$(temp$), LEN(item$)) = UCASE$(item$) THEN found = -1: EXIT DO
+    LOOP
+    CLOSE InFile
+    IF found THEN 'we found what we're looking for
+        l = INSTR(temp$, "=") 'return the value after the = sign
+        IF l THEN
+            value$ = MID$(temp$, l + 1)
+            l = INSTR(value$, CHR$(13)) 'we only want what's before a CR
+            IF l THEN value$ = LEFT$(value$, l)
+            l = INSTR(value$, CHR$(10)) 'or a LineFeed
+            'These are basic text files; they shouldn't have stray CHR$(10) or CHR$(13) characters in them!
+            IF l THEN value$ = LEFT$(value$, l)
+            value$ = LTRIM$(RTRIM$(value$))
+            ReadConfigSetting = -1
+            EXIT FUNCTION
+        END IF
+    END IF
+END IF
+ReadConfigSetting = 0 'failed to find the setting
+END FUNCTION
+
+FUNCTION VRGBS (text$, DefaultColor AS _UNSIGNED LONG)
+'Value of RGB String = VRGBS without a ton of typing
+'A function to get the RGB value back from a string such as _RGB32(255,255,255)
+'text$ is the string that we send to check for a value
+'DefaultColor is the value we send back if the string isn't in the proper format
+
+VRGBS = DefaultColor 'A return the default value if we can't parse the string properly
+IF UCASE$(LEFT$(text$, 4)) = "_RGB" THEN
+    rpos = INSTR(text$, "(")
+    gpos = INSTR(rpos, text$, ",")
+    bpos = INSTR(gpos + 1, text$, ",")
+    IF rpos <> 0 AND bpos <> 0 AND gpos <> 0 THEN
+        red = VAL(MID$(text$, rpos + 1))
+        green = VAL(MID$(text$, gpos + 1))
+        blue = VAL(MID$(text$, bpos + 1))
+        VRGBS = _RGB32(red, green, blue)
+    END IF
+END IF
+END FUNCTION
+
 
 '$INCLUDE:'subs_functions\extensions\opengl\opengl_methods.bas'