Terminal preferences

[jedi]

Hey all.  My preference for my terminal is for it not to have the graphic and also to not be so transparent.  I find when it is that if I have other windows open underneath, I have problems seeing what I'm typing, or the output of whatever I've typed.
In the past it was easy enough to go into preferences and change this.  When I do this now, the next time teriminal starts, it is back to transparent with the graphic in the middle of the terminal screen.  Do I need to do a 'chown' somewhere or how would I fix this?
Thanks...