Changing desktop pictures locks system preferences

Re MacBook Pro laptop (OS 10.7.5)
Problem: Changing desktop pictures locks System Preferences
If I try to open System Preferences, I get windows for the Change Desktop/Background and the whirling beach ball begins until I go to Activities Monitor to Force Quit System Preferences, which informs me that my "System Preferences is no longer responding."
I have no trouble booting my Mac,
checked my Disk Utility informing me that there are no errors,
checked Permissions without errors,
went to Users>"my name">Preferences>found the plist for com.apple.systempreferences, moved it to my desktop, tried the Apple System Preferences option with same result. Returned plist .  Hmm, just noticed that I have com.apple.systempreferences with one directly after Library ( i.e., not in any folder), and the other in the Library>Preferences folder. Could that be the foul up?  Perhaps one of these plists is misplaced.
Any suggestions?

First follow the instructions in this support article.
If an iPhoto or Aperture library is the source of your desktop pictures, it may need to be rebuilt, or you may need to update the application to the latest version.
Otherwise, continue as below.
Back up all data.
In the Finder, hold down the option key and select
          Go ▹ Library
from the menu bar. From the Library folder, delete the following item, if it exists:
          Caches/com.apple.systempreferences
and move the following items to the Desktop, if they exist:
          Application Support/Dock/desktoppicture.db
          Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
Launch System Preferences and test. If you still have the issue, put the items you moved to the Desktop back where they came from and post again. Otherwise, delete the items.

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