If you read the features section in your local newspaper, you are familiar with the slow food movement - which espouses slowing down and enjoying home-cooked meals created with local products and the slow travel movement which asks you to throw away your maps and itineraries and invites you to just wander aimlessly in foreign countries (I don't personally recommend this...I have a tendency to wander into unmarked military bases and getting escorted back to the main street by an armed soldier is a little embarassing.)
With the 2009 release of AutoCAD, Autodesk introduces Slow CAD. Press the Properties tool, then take a deep breath, inhale, exhale, release, the dialog appears. Press the Layer Managers tool, do a sloooow stretch to alleviate any back stiffness, the Layer dialog will appear.
If you are expecting dialogs to pop up instantly the way they used to in prior releases, you may get annoyed...several times I checked to see if AutoCAD was frozen, but no...it just wanted me to enter into a more relaxed, meditative statement. A little patience goes a long way.
I have to think the new GUI is just extremely memory-intensive, because every time you ask for anything, there is a short pause...kind of like when you ask the waiter if the soup d'jour is from a can or made from fresh ingredients.
You do get used to it. You develop a slower, more relaxed way of CAD...much less stressful, I am sure. I really wish AutoCAD would give users the option of Fast CAD or Slow CAD, because let's face it...we all crave a fast food burger now and then.
For now, practice your deep breathing.
If you like to use AutoCAD's FIND tool (located under the Edit menu), you may be confused where to locate the Options settings. Look for that small down arrow indicated in the image. Click out and all the options available will display.