Bug in InDesign CS4: Undoing Gradient Change Requires Extraneous Undo

Question

Create a shape with a gradient fill.
With the shape selected, drag a color swatch to the gradient bar to add an color to the gradient. The gradient fill of the shape is appropriately updated.
Hit undo. The shape now inexplicably has a solid fill of the color of the swatch you previously added to the gradient.
An additional undo is required to get back to the original gradient.

Answer 1

This is highly unusual. InDesign continuously saves a backup on its own. It is not like autosave in QXP. You do something... it saves a backup. There isn't an autosave setting that you directly fiddle with.
Look at your Preferences > File Handling > Document Recovery Data to find the location where it saves a backup copy.
I think it may be possible that you have some OS issues like maybe permissions problems. Since you describe a new machine and a new install; maybe it was not well-oiled and broken in yet.
My chicken-soup approach is to run Disk Utilities > Repair Permissions. It couldn't hurt to try that. You weren't running the file at distance across a network, were you? While some have no problem with that; many will experience problems. I always strive to work on the local disk volume.
There is no reason to try to click on the .idlk file. That so-called Lock file is a network WebDav gadget that doesn't allow someone else to open the file you are working on. It is not an InDesign file. It is not your backup file, either.
Mike Witherell in Maryland