Metro apps stopped launching after WIndows 8 Pro install

I bought Windows 8 Pro last night and installed it on an empty SSD. I also have a secondary drive where I store all my profiles. I copied the Default and Public folders to a new Users folder on the secondary drive (D:), changed the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList" registry keys, and created a new user to test; no issues. Everything was working great during this point. Once I started installing Win32 applications, all Metro apps (with exception to Store, Wikipedia, and PC Settings) stopped launching - they just display a splash screen and I get returned to the Start screen. The apps are still shown in the shortcut bar when I hover over the left corners of the screen, but clicking on them does the same thing. WIn32 applications are not affected. When I check the Event Viewer, I get errors like the following:

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Immersive-Shell
Date:          10/27/2012 4:51:01 PM
Event ID:      2486
Task Category: (2414)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      (64),Process Lifetime Manager
User:          Win-8\User
Computer:      Win-8
Description:
App Microsoft.BingFinance_8wekyb3d8bbwe!AppexFinance did not launch within its allotted time.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Immersive-Shell" Guid="{315A8872-923E-4EA2-9889-33CD4754BF64}" />
    <EventID>2486</EventID>
    <Version>0</Version>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>2414</Task>
    <Opcode>0</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x2000000000000042</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-10-27T21:51:01.224382600Z" />
    <EventRecordID>1814</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation />
    <Execution ProcessID="3268" ThreadID="4980" />
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>Win-8</Computer>
    <Security UserID="S-1-5-21-1019626828-3603479997-2208889667-1007" />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data Name="ApplicationId">Microsoft.BingFinance_8wekyb3d8bbwe!AppexFinance</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

and

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-AppHost/Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-AppHost
Date:          10/27/2012 4:50:45 PM
Event ID:      126
Task Category: (8)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      AppHost
User:          Win-8\User
Computer:      Win-8
Description:
App <AppexFinance> crashed with an unhandled Javascript exception. App details are as follows: Display Name:<Finance>, AppUserModelId: <Microsoft.BingFinance_8wekyb3d8bbwe!AppexFinance> Package Identity:<Microsoft.BingFinance_1.5.1.248_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe> PID:<2628>. The details of the JavaScript exception are as follows Exception Name:<WinRT error>, Description:<System.Exception
   at Windows.Storage.ApplicationData.get_LocalSettings()
   at Platform.Process.OnInitialize()>, HTML Document Path:</default.html>, Source File Name:<ms-appx://microsoft.bingfinance/common/js/services.js>, Source Line Number:<157>, Source Column Number:<14>, and Stack Trace: ms-appx://microsoft.bingfinance/common/js/services.js:157:14           processManager_ctor()
           ms-appx://microsoft.bingfinance/common/js/services.js:1148:18           initialize()
           ms-appx://microsoft.bingfinance/shared/js/default.js:7:5           Anonymous function()
           ms-appx://microsoft.bingfinance/shared/js/default.js:1:2           Global code
.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-AppHost" Guid="{98E0765D-8C42-44A3-A57B-760D7F93225A}" />
    <EventID>126</EventID>
    <Version>0</Version>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>8</Task>
    <Opcode>12</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x8000000000000001</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-10-27T21:50:45.566935800Z" />
    <EventRecordID>87</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation />
    <Execution ProcessID="2628" ThreadID="1784" />
    <Channel>Microsoft-Windows-AppHost/Admin</Channel>
    <Computer>Win-8</Computer>
    <Security UserID="S-1-5-21-2019626828-3603479997-2208889667-1007" />
  </System>
  <UserData>
    <WWAUnhandledApplicationException xmlns="http://manifests.microsoft.com/win/2005/08/windows/wwahost/events">
      <DisplayName>Finance</DisplayName>
      <ApplicationName>AppexFinance</ApplicationName>
      <AppUserModelId>Microsoft.BingFinance_8wekyb3d8bbwe!AppexFinance</AppUserModelId>
      <PackageFullName>Microsoft.BingFinance_1.5.1.248_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe</PackageFullName>
      <ProcessId>2628</ProcessId>
      <ErrorType>WinRT error</ErrorType>
      <ErrorDescription>System.Exception
   at Windows.Storage.ApplicationData.get_LocalSettings()
   at Platform.Process.OnInitialize()</ErrorDescription>
      <DocumentFile>/default.html</DocumentFile>
      <SourceFile>ms-appx://microsoft.bingfinance/common/js/services.js</SourceFile>
      <SourceLine>157</SourceLine>
      <SourceColumn>14</SourceColumn>
      <StackTrace>ms-appx://microsoft.bingfinance/common/js/services.js:157:14           processManager_ctor()
           ms-appx://microsoft.bingfinance/common/js/services.js:1148:18           initialize()
           ms-appx://microsoft.bingfinance/shared/js/default.js:7:5           Anonymous function()
           ms-appx://microsoft.bingfinance/shared/js/default.js:1:2           Global code
</StackTrace>
    </WWAUnhandledApplicationException>
  </UserData>
</Event>

I've read many other related threads, and while all the circumstances are different, the results are usually the same with this particular issue. I've already attempted the following troubleshooting steps from the aforementioned threads:

- I do not run Avast as an antivirus, so I did not need to update it
- Windows Firewall is enabled
- UAC is enabled
- I've tested with my Microsoft account and switched back to local as well
- My computer is not part of a domain (although it may be at one point in the future for testing purposes, but one step at a time)
- I did install Raptr, but disabling it did not fix the issue
- .NET 3.5 is not installed
- All device drivers are up to date
- The latest Windows Updates have been installed
- All apps were updated to the latest versions from the Store app

This is what I've done to make it work somehow:

- Logged into another user account (which I use only for occasional admin and disaster recovery purposes)
- Deleted and recreated Microsoft account profile which fixes it, however it eventually comes back once I start reinstalling Win32 programs or just use the system

If you haven't guessed by now, I'm technically fluent. I have 20+ years of computer repair experience and 8 years of IT industry experience at the server administration level. But this is my own personal machine and I'm stumped and tired of spending hours working on this at home when I already spend 8+ hours a day at work. I just want somebody else to figure this out for me. LOL. Any ideas out there?