FOREGROUND_INTENSITY

Use this variable to set the default foreground intensity.

0 The runtime uses the default intensity for the output device. For Windows the default is low-intensity.
1 The runtime uses low-intensity.
2 The runtime uses high-intensity.

If your program specifies a default intensity, then the runtime will never assign high-intensity if the foreground is black. As with the background, we do this to prevent a washed-out appearance. There's one exception to this rule. The runtime will assign high-intensity to a black foreground if the output device does not support independent background intensities. In this case, the device will typically show the background in high-intensity and keep the foreground black. Note that if your program explicitly sets high-intensity, then that will be used regardless of the foreground color. The default value for this variable is 0.