default cell color fill

Take a look at Tools Options...

To Mark W.
Thanks, but when I go to Tools-Options all I get is a chart listing colors for cell fills. If I click on one of them and then hit OK, it doesn't seem to change the default setting for that page or any other. What am I missing?

Sorry, I was thinking that there was a setting
for cell pattern on the General tab. Do you see
this cell shading when you open a new workbook?
If so, you probably have a Book.xlt in your
XLStart folder. Drag it out of that folder and
relaunch Excel to see if your problem goes away.
While you're poking around in the XLStart folder
see if you have a Personal Macro Workbook.

Geez, now my brain is firing on all cylinders!
Choose the Format Style... menu command. The
"Normal" style is probably in force. Press the
Modify... button then the Patterns tab and change
the cell shading back to No Color.

Mark W.
I appreciate your thoughts. What you suggested does what you said it would, but makes me realize I didn't state the problem accurately. The issue is not what the default color of the cells is when the page first comes up. The question is how to change the default color fill that appears in the toolbar color fill button.

Hmmm, I believe that the color fill toolbar button remembers the last color applied. I don't know of any way to have it default to any particular color.

Mark W.
You're right, it does remember the last color used but only while that page is up. If you close the document and then reopen, the same default bright yellow color is on the toolbar button, not the last color fill used.