Frustrating tools

If you don't want to listen to me bitch, don't read this.  This is a true bitch session.  About a month ago I upgraded my membership to gain access to the chess mentor program, as well as full access to the tactics trainer.  As the song says, a fool such as I.  Since I have been working with these tools my rating has gone down over a hundred points.  Worse yet, I am losing my love of chess.  I love to play chess, but not so much anymore.

The tactics trainer drives me a bit nuts.  It forces you to play quickly or risk losing points.  If you take enough time to study the position for a moment, you lose points even if you get the proper solution, as well many of the problems are somewhat vague, leaving you wondering if the solution was actually an improvement.  This too quick play has cost me too many games.

The chess mentor gives you plenty of time, but the comments of the writer are so damned arrogant that I have stopped using the program.  I'm not looking to win a world championship, I just want to play descent chess and make a few improvements in my game.  So, what to do?  I'm swearing off those damned things for a month or so and going back to playing chess my own way.  We'll see where the rating goes from there.