Jeff,
The projection is not set to automatic reset. The steps I do are as follows:
1. add the data sources (2 of them, both McIdas areas from my pc)
2. perform a simple diff. operation on them and display the diff., which shows
in on my default hi-res US proj.
3. I control/outline my area to zoom in
4. I change the range of brightness values, apply one of my saved color tables
5. I try to do edit->show color table in display
After all these are done, the color table does usually show up, however, it is
a different size nearly every time. Sometimes it is in another part of the
country than that which I am viewing, and it is literally about .5cm long on
the screen. Very strange...