I also run SS @ 1280 x 1024 and have noticed that the background looks very blocky

Would it not be possible to have a seperate background for 1280 x 1024 users, as this seems to be a very common resolution for LCD monitors?
Feldon: Your 'fix' of running SS in 1024 x 768 makes the background look better on an LCD monitor but it makes the FISH look terrible!
Another bug, which I'm surprised no-one else has noticed (I wonder if it's idiosyncratic to me?) is this: Pressing 'About' or 'Help' on the 'Configuration' screen causing the program to exit without displaying either!
This also happened in version 1.0!
I'm running XP Home SP1 with a GF4 Ti200.
~ John