Camera Raw Plug-In V6.3.0.79 Problems

Question

BACKGROUND
I am running Elements 9 V9.0.2 on an iMac with V6.3.0.79 of the Camera Raw Plug-In.
I am totally new to Elements as of five weeks ago.
The Camera Raw Plug-In worked fine for the first several weeks.
Now, it locks me out of doing anything to a file once I go through Camera Raw - Open the file into the Elements Editor - try to do anything(i.e. duplicate background)
PROBLEM
Sometime in the last few weeks, the Camera Raw Plug-in stopped working correctly:
1- Now, anytime I open a file into Camera Raw and
   a- do nothing to file in Camera Raw OR
   b- do anything simple/complex in Camera Raw
2- Then from Camera Raw choose the Open Button to go into the Elements Editor
3- The file is always "locked" - I can't even duplicate the background - all functionality is ghosted out.
4- Yet I can take that same file and go straight into the Elements Editor and I can duplicate the background.
5- This is not the way the Camera Raw plug-in worked for several weeks - I could duplicate the background in the Editor after going through Camera Raw.
ATTEMPTED SOLUTIONS
1- I have reinstalled Elements 9 (and the Camera Raw Plug-In) three times - each time the install is totally successful
2- I have checked several forums I found nothing that would give a clue as to a possible solution
POSSIBLE PROBLEM?
1- The only additional related software that I have newly installed around the time of the first occurance of this problem is Elements+
2- I am not saying that Elements+ is an issue, but it is the only "new" thing I can think of that may relate to the problem
3- I have left Elements+ out of the picture when I did the above 3 reinstalls.
4- Nothing changes the problem
Does anyone have any ideas about what may be causing this?

Answer 1

1. Yes there is no point in opening a jpeg from camera raw as 16 bit.
2. Raw images have the most headroom for post processing and a much smoother tonal range.
3. You can only do a small range of edits in PSE to 16 bit files, so the problem would remain. CS5 is required to use the full range of tools on large 16 bit files. I always shoot in raw and use Adobe Lightroom for all my raw processing and rarely need elements except for any artistic stuff and adding text. Aperture is available on the Mac and can now be purchased from the app store at a knock down price almost equivalent to Elements.