Illustrator CS3 isolation mode; can you prevent the background from fading?

I love isolation mode, but sometimes when I have a group isolated I want to change the color of something while I compare it to the rest of the design, but since the background fades I have to keep clicking on and off of the group to assess the changes. Is there any way to prevent the fade while still keeping everything isolated? Or for that matter, is there a way to revert to CS2's group-handling methods?Illustrator CS3 isolation mode; can you prevent the background from fading?
You have to use the ';direct selection tool'; (the white arrow) in order to select just the one item within the group.