Bertrand, the explanation that leaps to mind is that the update
didn't actually update anything at all. Does "Help... About Guide"
tell you that you are running the 29 March version? And do the
other newly-added features ("blue" DSS images, B1.0 and
2MASS access, etc.) work?

Perhaps instead of getting the "test" update from

http://www.projectpluto.com/new.htm

you somehow got the "older" update from

http://www.projectpluto.com/update8.htm

?

Arild wrote: "...Just tested [blue DSS overlays], and though it
made Guide rather sluggish..." Yes, this is an unfortunate side
effect. I have some vague ideas for getting around it, but right
now, they are only ideas.

Guide does apply the "green is halfway between red and blue"
trick. I think it helps, though not by much. Perhaps I'll eventually
be able to add 2MASS images to the mix...

I'd wager that the level 7/8 trouble is the one described here:

http://www.projectpluto.com/faq_curr.htm#level_x

...except that in your case, all that has happened is that both
levels were set to the same size, instead of one level being set
to a "weird" size. Easy to fix, as you will see. (Though as is
mentioned at the above URL, revising the user interface to make
it clear when one is entering a level _size_ in degrees, as
opposed to a dimensionless level _number_, would probably
make this trouble much less frequent!)

About a "progress indicator": noted... this is becoming more
important as Guide starts downloading more and more data. (And
I may rig it to enable downloads of fresh comet elements and
satellite TLEs from within the program, one more place where
an idea of what progress is being made would help.)

-- Bill