I thought at first the white was in response to a Dark interface in Windows, but even toggling to Light didn’t affect C4D’s interface value or the white unselected color.
So I trashed R25’s preferences - at least I got the unselected mesh to go back to black.
That Selected orange is still there, but I think I’ll now take your suggestion and tweak the Selected Object / Shaded Wire colors.
Curious - was Selected Object in R21 ALSO orange and I changed it? I can’t recall.
Thanks again for the help above,