red light / green light - those crazy shape hints!

Having a hard time with the shape hints. It's not that I can't get results... I can eventually. The odd thing is I can place a bunch of shape hints but they all stay red until something magical happens. Sometimes it seems to be clicking on a different application and then coming back. Sometimes it seems to be clicking on a different layer within MX. In flash 5 I remember having this problem only when the hint was not properly seated on the object and I know that isn't it. Is there some sort of bug?

- B
the humble newbie