1. Anyone have been able to make saving/loading on modern systems more bearable? My Windows 7 goes nuts not knowing which window to display so it takes a lot of alt+tabbing and random clicking to finally save/load game and then go back to playing.

You do need to save/load in this game a lot, because a single mistake can change the outcome of a scenario drastically sometimes (losing fully upgraded advanced unit or a hero to a mine or sth...) and boy you need to babysit those units with the terrible AI (a squad sitting idly watching the whole enemy army pass by...).

2. Also, the 'game speed' slider doesn't seem to do anything at all?