"Paid $600 for Pro Tools and NEVER use it."

I've heard that from others more than once.
One friend bought Powertracks and has made 4 CDs with it.
His brother bought ProTools and has not finished a single song that I know of.
Not sure he ever actually recorded a single track, but he had to have 'the best'. <giggle>

I got a trial of it a few years back and just gave up on it too.
RB, Powertracks and Reaper seem to be what I get stuff done with.

FWIW, the mention of 'Preview the FX before changing' in original past implies they are using the old Hard Write FX.
These are old (16bit), quirky, & sometimes simply consolidating the track fixes weird issue with them.

Instead try using the equivalent RealTime FX. No need to preview, you can adjust on the fly (and again as needed later), without making a destructive (hard written) change to your file.
There is really no need to use any of the old hard write FX other than Gain Change, and even then there are better options.

I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!