It sounds like there's something "stuck" in the Registry if the same behaviour continues into a new install.
(Purchasing a new copy does nothing useful with most Microsoft products. The copy on disk is identical. The only differences are the product keys, and they are not on the distribution disk. They are only on the stickers. This applies even to Windows.)
Get yourself a really good registry cleaner, like
Advanced Windows Care Personal (Free and no annoying ads). Run it after the uninstall, then reboot. Then reinstall. If there's anything stuck in the Registry related to S&T, Advanced Windows Care should offer to remove it now that it's no longer installed.
Oh yeah, if you've never run a good registry cleaner on your PC don't be surprised if Advanced Windows Care offers to clean out 15,000-20,000 garbage entries. Yes, you read that number correctly. The first time I ran it on my primary desktop system it cleaned out over 15,000 entries. Windows and most applications use the Registry as a sort of scratchpad and don't do a very good job of cleaning up after themselves. So running it will be a good thing even if it doesn't help with your problem.
Caveat: I have no connection with the makers of Advanced Windows Care Personal. I just really like it. It's the best registry checker/cleaner I've ever tried, and I've tried a few.
...ken...