sigh--I was hoping an expert could make sense of your posts. Sounds like a real mess not easily diagnosed or fixed.

Have you tired to start fresh with a clean install? If your preferences somehow got messed up with the upgrade, you can find the old prefs by searching for anything containing "limew". This is the easiest way to check for preference problems.

If it's a OSX problem, post which version of OSX you use, and if you've run through the usual safe boot/repair permissions, update system software steps. If you've already tried ruling out all the user pref problems by creating a new Admin User and testing an install there, that would be really useful to know.

Still, anyone who hates being a leecher is well worth helping.