Want to buy Pro version, quick question first

I tested the free version of Latest Posts and liked it, I plan on buying the pro version. But -- whenever I change the status of a news block (from published to draft, for example) or even delete a block, nothing changes on my web page until I go to the widget and click "save," even though I don't edit the widget at all. Any idea what's happening here?

Also, I really need a way to have each post self-expire on particular dates -- can I do that with the Pro version? If not, can you recommend a way to do that? Thanks -