There are other Global Illumination options in Shade other than Radiosity. Try photon mapping or path tracing. After a while you'll find out the best method to use for different scenes. Try them out. There are a lot of shortcuts in Shade. For selecting items, adding/deleting control points, etc. There's even a palette where you can customise your shortcuts. If you don't want to use the drop down menus, I recommend getting into the shortcuts.