None of what you listed actually address the question, which is how to add sites to the Top Sites group. I just had one of my very often used Top Sites just disappear, so had to go searching for the site in my browser history, and don't see any way to restore it as a Top Site. How do we add, edit, or remove any Top Sites?
Also, I have Frequently Visited Sites checked, but there's not a single one on my Start Page, and I did have a bunch of Favorites, none of which I selected to be Favorites, and most of them, grouped as one folder, which is even less convenient than simply opening a bookmark folder.