Can't start Photoshop without deleting preferences file

Hi gang,
I have a Macbook Pro running Lion, OS X 10.7 that I purchased two months ago so it's relatively new. Just bought Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended and installed it on the computer a day ago. Software will not operate unless I hold option+command+shift when starting so that the preferences file is deleted. I'm hoping someone knows how to help me reset things.
I suspect that the problem stems from a plugin that I deposited into the plugins folder, because the software was working at first. I didn't piece this together until after the fact, but once I fired up the software a couple times after installing it, it worked fine each time. I noodled around and checked some things out to see what's new in CS5, then I went ahead and deposited a favorite plugin into the plugins folder. Things stopped working after this. Not positive the plugin is related, but thought I should mention it.
I removed the plugin of course, to no avail. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the software three times. No difference. When I open the software without deleting the prefs file, it's just buggy and non-responsive. Can't start a new project, and thing just end up crashing every time. The software is useless without deleting the prefs file when firing it up.
Is there any hope of restoring things to normal? Thanks very much!

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/409/kb409112.html
Boilerplate-text:
Are Photoshop and OS fully updated?
As with all unexplainable Photoshop-problems you might try trashing the prefs (after making sure all customized presets like Actions, Patterns, Brushes etc. have been saved and making a note of the Preferences you’ve changed) by keeping command-alt-shift pressed on starting the program or starting from a new user-account.
System Maintenance (repairing permissions, purging PRAM, running cron-scripts, cleaning caches, etc.) might also be beneficial, Onyx has been recommended for such tasks.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/onyx.html
Weeding out bad fonts never seems to be a bad idea, either. (Validate your fonts in Font Book and remove the bad ones.)
If 3rd party plug-ins are installed try disabling them to verify if one of those may be responsible for the problem.

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