1) Try doing a repair permissions by opening the Disc Utility program, select the boot disc (primary drive) and repair ...
2) Try opening system preferences again
3) If it still bounces, do a full shut down (not a restart) and wait a minute before starting up the computer again, then try again
4) If it were me and those steps didn't get it going, I'd go for a reinstall of the operating system, selecting the option to repair without erasing the existing content.
Or you could pull your hair out for awhile.
It seems you have a corrupt or missing file, or the file is simple not being found or inaccessible. Give the system a good chance to find it and access it using the above steps ... and if that doesn't work then the file may not exist. That calls for a reinstall, but there is a "repair" option once you get underway.
You should be OK as long as you own the Operating System software and it is appropriate for the machine (not an OS disc for a different machine)
If you choose to go the route of continuing to troubleshoot, it would be helpful for you to post what you did last that could possibly have resulted in a problem (install new software, have a power outage, that sort of thing) or if nothing at all happened, that's also pertinent.
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