thanks for the idea, however for some unknown reason this did not work for me. the package wouldn't open through the browser of my Nexus One. here is how I got it fixed, not sure if this is the easiest way but I thought it might be worth sharing as there seem to be many people stuck with this problem.
please bear in mind that I'm not a pro when it comes to development nor even using SDK, so this is probably a somewhat unprofessional method of fixing it, but at least it got my phone working!
SOLUTION 2
for this fix, you need to have usb debugging mode enabled. you should be able to access this setting when you plug in your phone, through the notification bar.
1. if you don't have it, download Android SDK from here:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
you also need the latest java kit, the installation software will tell you if you don't have it.
2. follow the instructions on that site to install the tools and the latest USB drivers which will function with SDK:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/win-usb.html
3. once installed, add the SDK tools to your systems PATH environment variables. see appendix 1.
4. go to command prompt. type in "adb" and hit enter. this should bring up a list of functions of the adb tool. if this works, you are ready to install the package.
5. make note of the location where you have the Launcher Pro package on your computer (C:\ is easiest).
type in the following command in the command prompt: adb install -r C:\LauncherPro-0.8.2.apk
this should reinstall the package, and bring up the option on your phone to boot either the stock Launcher or Launcher Pro. I reccomend the former.
personally, at this point I uninstalled Launcher Pro through my phone and will never trust any software by this developer.
APPENDIX 1: updating PATH
from:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing.html
Adding both tools/ and platform-tools/ to your PATH lets you run command line tools without needing to supply the full path to the tool directories. Depending on your operating system, you can include these directories in your PATH in the following way:
•On Windows, right-click on My Computer, and select Properties. Under the Advanced tab, hit the Environment Variables button, and in the dialog that comes up, double-click on Path (under System Variables). Add the full path to the tools/ and platform-tools/ directories to the path.
•On Linux, edit your ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc file. Look for a line that sets the PATH environment variable and add the full path to the tools/ and platform-tools directories to it. If you don't see a line setting the path, you can add one:
export PATH=${PATH}:<sdk>/tools:<sdk>/platform-tools
•On a Mac OS X, look in your home directory for .bash_profile and proceed as for Linux. You can create the .bash_profile if you don't already have one.