Reaper will not save any of the settings

Everytime I change the settings (preferences) It all goes back to the way it was before when I close reaper and reopen it. I try to add new vst plugin paths. But they're gone upon reopening the program. I try to change everything to Asio and select my audio interface. But it's gone upon reopening. etc.... etc.... etc.... I've been messing with this problem with the little time i have for hobby related stuff for a few months now and I'm just now getting around to asking for help from the Reaper forum. So..... Help me Reaper forum...............your my only hope P.S. I've used this program for a while and only in recent months have I begun having this problem. It worked fine prior.

In the Program list, there are a number of options for opening Reaper. When you open Reaper, is it possible that the option being used is 'reset configuration to factory defaults'? Pete

No, I'm positive I'm not clicking reset configuration to factory defaults. I'm not sure what, if anything, changed on my pc around the time I began having this problem. It isn't going back to factory defaults. I had a number of VST plug in paths already set. I had moved all of my plugins to a new folder so I tried adding the new path. But everytime I reopened Reaper the new path wasn't there. The old paths were still there, even though I had tried to delete them. I finally got the old paths deleted. And it actually saved them being gone. I have no clue how it worked, but when I was trying to delete the old paths, I would delete them out of the path field with the "Backspace" button on my keyboard. But they kept showing up upon reopening. But for some reason, one time, I actually used the "delete" key, and it actually deleted them and they've been gone since. But I still can't get it to save my new vst paths. nor can I get it to save my audio device Asio settings. I've uninstalled reaper and reinstalled it a number of times and still no luck. I like Reaper a lot and I don't won't to use another DAW. But I just don't know what to do.

Try this: - find the Reaper.ini and reaper-fxfolders.ini files (in C:\Documents and Settings\DarkStar\Application Data\REAPER here), - rename them to Reaper.ini.old and reaper-fxfolders.ini.old, - start Reaper and set up your new VST paths.

I'm using Reaper with Vista and don't get any problems. This is a long shot, but have you tried right clicking on the Reaper icon and selecting the Vista option called 'Run as administrator'? Pete

So, to help out other users with Vista, what does "Run as administrator" do that normal running does not?