Saving transparent tga files without making alpha channel

I've been using Photoshop 7.0 for awhile now. I haven't upgraded to any other version yet because the original 7.0 actually has a certain bug in it that has been very useful.
The bug has something to do with transparency, alpha channels, and TGA files. Somehow this bug lets me save transparent TGA files without creating an alpha channel. All I have to do is save the image as 32 bit and it will come out exactly how I made it. No white backgrounds, just smooth transparent edges. Its easy since I don't have to waste time manually painting a black/white map. I'm wondering if theres a way to do this in the newer versions, but after trying the demos it seems like there isn't.
I don't know much about alpha channels, but I make dozens of TGA images with clear backgrounds so I really hope there is an easier way around this. To have to manually color the clear/solid areas with a paintbrush and lasso for each image seems like a nightmare. I wanted to get CS4 but I think it would be easier to just stick with this old version for this reason.
If anyone understands me and could offer some insight, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks
 

To my recollection this isn't a bug. I read in the forums awhile back that Adobe changed how the TGA format works with transparency and apparently they received complaints about it so they changed it back. I imagine there probably is a KB article about it.
However creating an alpha channel isn't a big deal especially if you have the transparency already done. Go to your actions panel and load the video actions, you will find an action that converts the transparency of all visible layers into an alpha channel.

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