[ILUG] xterminal fonts and colo(u)rs

[MC]

hi,
i am at a bit of a loss on this one. My terminal does some colorcoding (blue 
for directories, red for executables, dark red for .tar.gz, etc.,), which
is fine. However, in X, when the xterm does it the colored fonts are in
bold, which makes them hard to read (also, blue is too dark on black bg).
Where are the settings affecting this behaviour?
(I haven't had much luck with .Xdefaults, .Xresources)
TIA
mick