ATR:
Win 8.1/64. I may have jumped the gun by deleting the prefs file first but after doing that all 3 of your suggested attempts resulted in PE opening and nothing but the add media option showing. Under Roaming/Adobe I have a Premiere Elements folder and a Premiere Elements 12.0 folder and I deleted the 12.0 file under both. Now there is only the yellow folder option under open existing project and when I select it from the option screen and I see nothing but the add media option when PE12.1 opens. Also I am now hanging when I attempt to shutdown PE 12.1 and must use the task manager to terminate.
Thank you for your suggestions