System PReferences Problem

Hi,
For some reason "spaces" has recently activated.
The problem is that it that it will not let me disable it by the usual way (the system preferences way) because when I click on it, it shows that it has launched but nothing come up on screen and when I click "spaces" in applications I see the four boxes and "system preferences" is in the background behind them which is very confusing!
does anyone know of any alternative ways to disable "spaces".

Regards

Andrew

Hello, Go to System Preferences, click the Exposé - Spaces tab, Click the Spaces tab if it's not selected, and if the "Enable Spaces" and "Show Spaces in menu bar" boxes are checked off, uncheck them by clicking on them.

It will not let me get onto system preferences as i cannot see it regardless if i click on "show" but if i click on system preferences in the application bar it shows the system preferences window but if i click on it, it vanishes and it also does this with limewire and safari.
But thanks for the help

Unfortunately, if you have no access to System Preferences and you have apps quitting on you, Exposé is the least of your problems. Have you tried repairing permissions?