Mixing different fabrics in same wash cycle

Hiya,

This maybe my only post, but it's about a question driving up the wall: Which wash cycles do I use on my washing machine?

Basically, it has: Anti-Stain, Cotton and Synthetics (and a whole load of specials that appear straight forward). The manual helpfully advises: "separate clothes into material type". Great, I've got a mixed load of roughly the same colour, many of the garments are mixed fabric. Is there a basic 'mixed' wash? No. There are daily quick washes for mixed, but these are clothes in need of a good wash.

So if I use Anti-stain, it's a rigorous wash, won't it shorten the life of the clothes? (having used it for a week I'm already seeing bobbling on some).

If I use Cottons will it wear out mixed and the synthetics I'm throwing in at the same time as it's a 3:00hr wash at 40°?

If I use Synthetics: will it get the mixed and cotton clothes clean as it's only a 1:20hr wash at 40°?

All these new clever settings are great, but our old Indesit had a 'wash at 40° wash' (option 4). It didn't care about what you threw in as long as there was room for laundry to move.