No, I'm afraid this still crashes on 0.48 in the same way. Deleted either the preference.xml or the whole Application Data\Inkscape\ folder do not help. 

Unfortunately, I can't test here if running as an administrator user fixes the problem (as with https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/455894)

Running a gdb backtrace on the latest development version (9712, which shows the problem) gives:

 Starting program: C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug/inkscape
.exe
[New thread 3684.0x25c]
[New thread 3684.0xddc]

Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
0x77c47740 in strcmp () from C:\WINDOWS\system32\msvcrt.dll
(gdb) bt
#0  0x77c47740 in strcmp () from C:\WINDOWS\system32\msvcrt.dll
#1  0x6861b047 in g_utf8_collate ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libglib-2.0-0.dll
#2  0x00594cdc in Inkscape::get_path_for_profile ()
#3  0x0082c71d in Inkscape::UI::Dialog::InkscapePreferences::initPageCMS ()
#4  0x0083e776 in Inkscape::UI::Dialog::InkscapePreferences::InkscapePreferences
 ()
#5  0x00d105a4 in Inkscape::UI::Dialog::PanelDialog<Inkscape::UI::Dialog::Behavi
or::DockBehavior>::create<Inkscape::UI::Dialog::InkscapePreferences> ()
#6  0x005399db in Inkscape::UI::Dialog::(anonymous namespace)::create<Inkscape::
UI::Dialog::InkscapePreferences, Inkscape::UI::Dialog::Behavior::DockBehavior> (
)
#7  0x005388d6 in Inkscape::UI::Dialog::DialogManager::getDialog ()
#8  0x0053896c in Inkscape::UI::Dialog::DialogManager::showDialog ()
#9  0x00475ffe in sp_action_perform ()
#10 0x63a44124 in g_closure_invoke ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgobject-2.0-0.d
ll
#11 0x63a57879 in signal_emit_unlocked_R ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgobject-2.0-0.d
ll
#12 0x63a58a93 in g_signal_emit_valist ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgobject-2.0-0.d
ll
#13 0x63a58fc6 in g_signal_emit ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgobject-2.0-0.d
ll
#14 0x6198c4c0 in gtk_widget_activate ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgtk-win32-2.0-0
.dll
#15 0x6187977a in gtk_menu_shell_activate_item ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgtk-win32-2.0-0
.dll
#16 0x6187b4a7 in gtk_menu_shell_button_release ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgtk-win32-2.0-0
.dll
#17 0x61868e63 in _gtk_marshal_BOOLEAN__BOXED ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgtk-win32-2.0-0
.dll
#18 0x63a44124 in g_closure_invoke ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgobject-2.0-0.d
ll
#19 0x63a5758c in signal_emit_unlocked_R ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgobject-2.0-0.d
ll
#20 0x63a5892b in g_signal_emit_valist ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgobject-2.0-0.d
ll
#21 0x63a58fc6 in g_signal_emit ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgobject-2.0-0.d
ll
#22 0x61985ec1 in gtk_widget_event_internal ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgtk-win32-2.0-0
.dll
#23 0x61860e82 in gtk_propagate_event ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgtk-win32-2.0-0
.dll
#24 0x61861fec in gtk_main_do_event ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgtk-win32-2.0-0
.dll
#25 0x6c37014a in gdk_event_dispatch ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgdk-win32-2.0-0
.dll
#26 0x685eb50b in g_main_context_dispatch ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libglib-2.0-0.dll
#27 0x685ee5f5 in g_main_context_iterate ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libglib-2.0-0.dll
#28 0x685ee9e4 in g_main_loop_run ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libglib-2.0-0.dll
#29 0x618625dc in gtk_main ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgtk-win32-2.0-0
.dll
#30 0x013b3c3f in Gtk::Main::run ()
   from C:\Documents and Settings\mpse\Desktop\Inkscape-debug\libgtkmm-2.4-1.dll

#31 0x004063f0 in sp_main_gui ()
#32 0x0042b29a in Inkscape::NSApplication::Application::run ()
#33 0x00403109 in main ()
(gdb)

Is that any more informative? Inkscape::get_path_for_profile () seems to have something to do with colour profiles - any connection to bug  https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/455894 ?