Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having trouble.
[quote]1. screen sensitivity --- why am I often having to tap repeatedly with a stylus, or click / hold for a longish time with a mouse, to get a Panel to show? I have set the zones to large, as presumably this helps. It is mainly a problem with zones 2 and 3. Perhaps this will improve with practice.
Practice, yes, and make sure you are touching far enough off of the visible space of the screen
2. the Quick Navigation Panel just shows two words, ''Top'' and ''Bottom''. What does this mean?
Or top / bottom of webpage
3. the app icons in the zone 4 Panel are now cut in half vertically, after having been fully formed earlier ---- a bug? 14
I cant seem to reproduce this:

DPI / Resolution change affect this? Does a restart of WindowsExplorer resolve it?

4. why would I want Custom Hot Keys, given that using Hot Keys is itself an easy shortcut?
Not sure I understand your question but Custom Hotkeys will perform (all) those keyboard keys with one touch of that zone.
Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager