As a result of this, I format my computer on a monthly basis, thus having to redownload PE everytime I clean.
What are you trying to achieve by doing this? Reinstalling the old software means reinstalling the old bugs, therefore you do a useless thing. A monthly software update is good but formating HHD every month is extreme.
Another way to install PE is to go to the PE FTP site, download the big client file and install it. This will install fast and the updates are not so time consuming. And you can even keep a copy of PE kit on some CD.
PE FTP site:
ftp://ftp.project-entropia.com/
Link to the last PE client:
ftp://ftp.project-entropia.com/Clients/PE_7.7.0.exe
EDIT. It seems that there is no big client file for VU 8.x and probably this method will not preserve your log file, unless you save you log file on another drive.