Ableton Forum

I downloaded a new VST plugin for live and so I went to Preferences to scan for it. By accident i started scanning my Program Files(x86) instead of VSTplugins, this caused ableton to shut down. And now when I try to start it up again and Ableton is scanning VSTs it is being currupted by the amount and type of files that it has to scan. Therfore it wont open and shuts down before acctually pulling a set up. I have tried reinstalling the program and even moving files from Program Files. But it hasn't worked. can I stop the scanning or change the preferences without opening it? Windows Vista, intel 2 duo core, 4GB, 64 bit.
If you have any suggestions or advice PLEASE be kind enough to help me out.

yeah, even with a fresh re-install ableton is still reading your old preference file, which you set up to point to that folder that is crashing it, best bet might be to try trashing the "preferences.cfg" file, located in:

Windows C:/Documents and Settings/[username]/Application Data/Ableton/Live x.x/Preferences/Preferences.cfg

-or-

Mac OS X: /User/Library/Preferences/Ableton

This should reset all your customized preferences, thus causing ableton to scan from a default location on startup, then you just need to go in and re-apply and settings you had in place, as they will have all been restored to defaults as well.