Boy I would sure like to see more threads like this. It should be part of the license agreement that whenever you discover a new trick, you must post it on the forum or your software will crash. Come to think of it maybe that is already in there, that would explain a lot.
The way I select covered items is dragging a green select box over the area I want. That highlights all items the box touches, then double click the items I don't want selected and it leaves the hidden item selected.