Saved settings in IE8 keep reverting back

I downloaded IE 8 a few weeks ago and have noticed two things.

One was that the “favorites bar” would come up all black. I found a solution that told me to go into the “Display” on Control Panel and set the theme for Windows Classic and apply. It had changed to Windows Classic (Modified). That worked.

The other issue was that the idiotic clicking sound when I click on a link had returned. So I went into “Sounds” and set the “Start Navigation” sound to None.
That worked.

Just about every time I restart the computer, the black comes up again and the sound returns forcing me to go into the control panel and reset my changes.

Is there any reason this is happening? Can it be fixed? Not really a mission critical problem, just a pain in the butt.