[Ubuntu-BD] Visual effects setting doesn't retain after reboot at Lucid

[~Split_Fire~]

Hi,

I just switched to Lucid from Jaunty about less than a week. Where Jaunty
was fairly good enough, Lucid seems to be somewhat buggy in some cases. I
want to keep my visual effect setting as 'None' from Syestem->Preferences
option. But each time I restart my machine, the visual effects again set
back to 'Extra' and I've to set it manually. Is there any way to fix it?
Also peeked through some Ubuntu forums with no luck, now seeking a help.

A side question, my ubuntu switch to Firefox each time I log in. I checked
the Startup Applications from System->Preferences, but couldn't find out the
Firefox from the list. I want to get rid of this at startup as well.

Thank you all.