One trick that seems to minimise the problems is to uninstall the previous version before installing the new version,including manually deleting files with windows explorer from the folder that the uninstall program leaves behind.
The signal flow of the group function gangs the selected tracks just prior to the mixer dialog,where the group shows up as a new track.You can then use the auxs or not as desired.
I like your workaround,Slack!Clever.
What I did was to render (for example) backup vocals or drum tracks to mixdown,rename as "vocals",mute the original tracks of the group and then reimport the group track so I could have one knob control everything without tweaking the relative levels of the group.
Tom