Booting up XP

Something is wrong with your system most likely. Missing or hacked system files, maybe.

reinstall windows without formating. It will keep all your files!

reinstall windows without formating. It will keep all your files!

It is best to backup your files via CDR or by moving them to another hard drive, other than the one you plan to use to install windows. Reinstalling windows without formatting can cause a lot of problems. The registry may be a mess because the updates are no longer valid. Your drivers may be set back to the original windows drivers, yet new driver files may still be present on your system.

For these reasons, it is best to reformat the drive before reinstalling windows.

I warm boot and everything is honky-dory.

It sounds like windows may be having trouble loading your hardware too. Make sure you have the proper drivers for your hardware and that they are properly installed. (Note: Software is different from hardware. For example, if your video drivers are not properly installed, you may have trouble with software that use that hardware.)
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I have the purchased version

Did you have the "unpurchased/shareware" version installed at one time? If so, make sure you uninstall the shareware version before installing the purchased version. If you did have the shareware version and didn't uninstall it before installing the purchased version, remove everything(shareware and purchased) and reboot, check to make sure that the windowblind folder is removed, and then reinstall the purchased version. It sounds like you may have remnants of the shareware version still on your system.

Also, I am trying to use a theme without beatnik, but it keeps coming back

It sounds like you are autoloading the beatnik player at start up. Windowblinds has nothing to do with the Beatnik Player. This problem is a Beatnik configuration problem.