When 'someone' invented the OTS and OTS2 standards the world of LiteSTEP was going to be a 'piss-easy' environment.
Not so.
In THEORY module version downloads, etc being automated 'should' solve many issues...but I think there is clearly some 'issues' to resolve for those without sufficient patience to successfully problem-solve.
csurfside...
It appears that much of your problems are stemming from 'layercut.dll'...the module that handles the animated shortcuts that my 'animated' themes are now using.
This module is [or appears to be] buggy....and that usually means it leaks like a sieve.
I have had a heck of a lot of 'fun' convincing them to work.....still every now and then on recycle, those Antares 'panels' refuse to rotate.....usually only one of them...which is really odd....
My first suggestion is you stop using any themes with 'layercuts' in them.
There are squillions of other themes to use.
Perhaps I should go back to the antiquated 'rainmation.dll'....at least it works....[though proggy loading doesn't on the RC builds....at least the anis work].
One really important pre-requisite of Litestep using is....patience.
Generally, re-installing Litestep is not necessary.....the Installer works.....make sure everything is 'normal' with placements....don't install LS to a folder called 'aardvarks' or something silly....always dl any module mentioned/requested by the 'netloadmodule' lines.....they are not in Litestep distros by default, hence the theme request for them to be added.
Learn to 'debug' your own theme installations by commenting out alternate modules in the theme.rc to see if odd behaviour stops....or worsens [don't comment out the 'desktop' or 'jdesk' modules....whichever used....or the theme won't run at all....[nothing to interract with].
With any visual 'load' on your screen.....games, alpha-blending, animations, it's important to have up-to-date graphic drivers.....as the 'bugs' may just be in your system, not the OS shell/theme.
More often than not it is very difficult to debug anothers' computer by remote.
One vaguelly possible way is to zip [with paths] your entire Litestep directory and subdirectories and perhaps email them to me.....I can install and see what happens......that will at least rule out any actual LS issue, meaning it's something else in your system...
csurfside....layercuts is the module that provides the animations.
Originally Nijikon Fetchi used rainmation.dll which is a much older module and doesn't handle evars, etc and modern tricky bits.....layercuts is better in many ways but still seems to have issues of its own.
The only solution is to use shortcut.dll instead and do away with the animation.....a backward step for most...as it'll lose some of its 'fun'....