Try fiddling with the Alternating Table Column Color settings in Style Settings.
Upgrading to UBB6 is a fairly lengthy but well-documented procedure. If the upgrade instructions are strictly followed, it doesn't take too long and all data is preserved. If you were running 5.47e, I'd say evaluate carefully, but since you're not, I would at least advise upgrading to that level.
You might also want to install a test version of 6.05, or clone your 5.x and then upgrade THAT to 6.05 to see how it runs. That will let you get a good feel for 6.x before you actually upgrade for real. (By cloning I mean create a full 2nd working copy of your 5.x board, THEN upgrade the copy to 6.x. If anything goes wrong, you delete and start over).
Graeme
