When I boot up or log into gnome-classic (no effects), windows don't have the frame around them that has the minimize and close buttons and all that. After that, there all sorts of issues - for example, when I open a new window, it's in the very top left corner, obscuring the menu on the gnome panel... just a whole bunch of minor annoyances.

I can get things working by by loading the compiz fusion icon and then selecting to reload the window manager.

Of course this is less than ideal. How do I get the window manager to load automatically?

Update: It seems that I get no window manager whenever I load Compiz, even after logging in. So it looks like the problem is more generally with Compiz's window manager.