Vista - Display... inconveniences?

Alright.. first post, ... whoo..

Ok. I apparently have a problem/inconvenience with my Vista installation, regarding the display.

First of all, my setup is a laptop display, with an HDTV as an extension. Every time I hook up the tv and enable it in the display settings (or ATI CCC), both screens flicker for several seconds, before finally settling down at the right resolution, even though I already set them before applying. My question is, is there something wrong? Or is it yet another 'feature'?

Secondly, I am using a laptop/notebook computer, which opens and closes, obviously. Seeing how my secondary monitor is a tv, I watch movies and videos on it frequently. Whenever I did, (I recently had XP Pro SP2 installed, everything worked fine) I would close my laptop lid, so I can watch the movies without the ... extra screen. Now, however, with my new, improved *cough* Vista installation, every time I close the laptop lid, the computer automatically disables the laptop screen, and makes the tv the primary, and only screen. Is there any way to prevent this? I know it's not the laptop power saving thing, because I configured it to do nothing when the lid is closed.

Yet another thing, is that the external monitor flickers every now and then. Which is a problem.

I use modded (Mobility Modder) Drivers, with Catalyst Control Center 8.6. I doubt it's a driver problem, though.

I know that it's probably not a hardware problem, because it worked just fine with my XP SP2 installation.

So, it's likely it's a problem with Vista. As for what, I am clueless.

If more information is needed, just ask.