XP ignores theme for user

Help! I have a winXP PC that, after setting up a user and demoting from administrator to limited user (it's a non-domain PC), the profile displays incorrectly. There's no visual style whatsoever displayed, frequently used programs are empty, etc. I assume it's a permission issue, but cannot think of where it can be. I have granted the user full control of his profile, and cascaded permissions through the entire folder in "documents and settings". I have encountered this before, and can make the profile display correctly be reassigning admin rights. This is probably something really simple, and I am going to kick myself upon hearing the answer. Any help that anyone could provide would really make my day...