diff --git a/.profile b/.profile
index a33ac70..94020b9 100644
--- a/.profile
+++ b/.profile
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ export XDG_CACHE_HOME="$HOME/.var/cache"  # ~/.cache       /var/cache
 	ln -sf "$XDG_CACHE_HOME" "$HOME/.cache"
 
 # coloured GCC warnings and errors
-export GCC_COLORS='error=01;31:warning=01;35:note=01;36:caret=01;32:locus=01:quote=01'
+export GCC_COLORS=auto
 
 # if executing interactively
 # execute .bashrc in the current login context