User Can't Access System Preferences—Why?

[mrlynn]

Well, he managed to remember his password, thanks to the hints that the Mac offers.

So he got in under the different user name (actually his own; the other is his wife's), and writes,

The good news is that the screen backdrop for my account is the good old standby that comes with a new Mac. Those ugly photos I downloaded are no where to be seen under my account.

The bad news is that System Preferences still does not open even with me using my account.

So I suggested he go into the Library under his account and delete the systempreferences.plist file(s) there, too. He responds:

Logged in as me, I got to Users/_____ and opened Library.
There were no files called com.apple.systempreferences.----.plist (with or without anything filled in the blanks)
I looked also in a file called Preferences and there were none.
In the Preferences file I also looked in the file called ByHost and there were none.

So once again I am at a loss for suggestions. Reinstall the OS?

/Mr Lynn