I am really glad I flashed my firmware. I went to v2 of multifw - boy is it ever nice. I boot into pacrom by default and turn on the 'remember last program' function so I don't have to go digging around for whatever I was playing with / testing next time I turn it on. Then, I always have the option to go into original firmware if I have to, though I haven't found a compelling reason to do it too often. Mostly I stick to the free games and self developed code. The PC link host bootup option has worked well enough for me so far for installing .fpk files too.
This setup is alot better for me than waiting for the bootup ani to finish, clicking start on games, going to free launcher, finding my program, and running it.. with pacrom, it is right on the program I went to last and I can just hit A to run it within a second or two of booting.