ok good. i'm glad it wasn't just me. as for your fade effects, i am afraid i can't be of much assistance. i tweaked the hell out of my transitions.ini file to eliminate such effects in favor of a snappier ux. there is a program "Transitioncontrol" in extra-devel which you can use to easily adjust and test different values with. otherwise someone else may be kind enough to share their experiences/file with you.