Easy way to duplicate admin account prefs, etc?

My only current account (admin) has apparently become corrupted. Software that wouldn't install properly while logged in there did install under a new account. My question: Can I duplicate the account settings/prefs quickly and avoid the time consuming process? I don't want to just copy the user info to a new account folder as I assume it would duplicate the corruption as well. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)