I will try hiding as you suggested.

I watched my uploaders window for a while, and the ones that drop in and out repeatedly are not making progress in the bar. Connecting, uploading, oops. Where'd they go? Not surprisingly, most of them are using 2.8.5 also.

I think the next time I get a version that just works sort of okay, I am going to stick with it and not worry about 'new and improved', thinking it might actually be all that. Because I am usually wrong.