Inkscape - exporting bitmap (as a .png file) getting rid of unwanted checkered background/hatch fill

Ok, so I've been using Inkscape for awhile for drawing simple images, and I love it.  However, I don't know if this is default or what, but when you begin exporting your image using "Export Bitmap" it exports the file fine as a .png except there is this hatched fill or checkered background on the image!  I finally found out how to fix this from here: http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=820 at about halfway down the page.

To fix this, while in Inkscape go to File - Document Properties.  Then click on the area where it says background.  It should, at least in my case, have half of the bar or strip as white and the other half as checkered.  When you click on it, this is really strange, the settings are all on white!  However, I clicked on the hatched portion, called Alpha (opacity) and then move it to darker (left) then moved it back to white/lighter (right).  Then it disappeared (the checkered area)!

BTW, I tried to fix it manually by going to the object fill and stroke properties, but like above the settings were all on white.  I don't think I tried messing with the checkered setting, but I would just do the above steps to fix the whole thing.

I also, before, used, from what I remembered, a white rectangle to cover the area of the figure and set it to the lowest layer.  However, I could not get that to work this time so I hunted out this fix.