In working with 2004, I have found what appears to be a quicker way to deal with the now always on "defer mates." Once you have the 2 faces, etc selected for the mate, click the check mark on the floater box, and then reach over with the left hand (assuming RH mouse operation) and hit the key. Most of the time SW has the sense to interpret the keystroke after it accepts the ok from the mouse click. If you have several mates to put in, select the items, click on the check mark floater, and after the last one, hit the key. This is faster as you don't have to wait for the first acceptance to complete and then click again.
WT