things seem to be missing off my ubuntu

Open up a terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal)
type sudo apt-get update , press enter
type sudo apt-get install -f , press enter

Does it install anything? Or return an error?

no it just says command not found it did once ask for my password but would not type anything i am now starting to get very frustrated as i have a laptop i cant use properly, as i bought the shelf display notebook from comet and i dont think they have removed product marketing and their profile properly so this being the reason that i cant use my notebook properly i do have my own profile on here and access most there are certain things that dont even seem to exist

no it just says command not found it did once ask for my password but would not type anything i am now starting to get very frustrated as i have a laptop i cant use properly, as i bought the shelf display notebook from comet and i dont think they have removed product marketing and their profile properly so this being the reason that i cant use my notebook properly i do have my own profile on here and access most there are certain things that dont even seem to exist

just tried it again and it worked this time only problem being it says it couldnt find package ?????

When you type a password in a terminal you don't get little *s. This hides the pssword lenth. Just tpe your password in and hit enter

You can't use your laptop properly as it isn't properly configured
It's not properly configured due to the person configuring it being ignorant of Ubuntu which is why the support forums exist to help when users become unstuck

You are using a new OS (to you it is new) and have used windows for so long (I imagine) so you will have years of experience of windows and very little Linux experience so it will seem daunting but if you research and plug away you will get there.

You never say what "it" is in this sentence:

i went into system, adminasrtation to click onto software sources it wasnt there i cant find it in search but when i went into add/remove progras it in there ans says it jhas already been added

What is "it"??

If you give some examples of what software you want on your system we can advise how to install it but at present we cannot help you due to lack of information on your part.

it has nothing to do with me being ignorant to ubuntu, the reason my notebook isnt working nd i cant find what it i am looking (which is software sources) to upgrade my ubuntu 8.04 hardy to 8.10 ubuntu hardy is because when i bought the notebook off comet they only ever removed the password (as the notebook was the display model) and not restored the notebook to factory settings, my husband has spoken to them and this is what they have told him by going into the notebook itself.

 Basically when i went to upgrade my ubuntu and ran through the instructions given on the ubuntu website which is click on system then administration and then software sources, the software sources was there, i went into search and typed in system sources and the notebook could not find the file, so i went into add/remove to see if it been installed and according to add/remove the software sources had been installed.

so what has basically happened because comet never restored my notebook to factory settings and only removed their password there seems to be restrictions on ubuntu so i can not access all files

Open a Terminal from the menu Applications->Accessories->Terminal

Tip: right click with mouse on the terminal title caption and select the item "Always on Top" doing this you will force the terminal window to stay on top of the other windows and you will find very easy to copy single row from this web page into the terminal...
Something more about using the terminal https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingTheTerminal

Then type or better copy and paste a row a time then press enter:
(Tip: select the single row to copy then right click into the terminal and to quick paste click with middle button of mouse )

sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo apt-get --fix-missing install
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get autoremove

give your user password when requested, you don't see nothing when you type it, then press enter.

Hope this helps

iv done what marcobra has advised still not working properly it going back to comet tomorrow so they reset it back to factory settings. one more quick question i cant download anything, can you use utorrent on ubuntu if so how do you download utorrent onto unbuntu and recieve the whole file and do you download onto ubuntu.

If you search this entire thread you will find your post below mine is the FIRST time you ever mention you wanted to upgrade. The whole flow before that sounds like you are missing some functionlity or a favourite application.

There are many torrent clients for Ubuntu. utorrent is a windows app and not really advised. Ubuntu comes with transmission which also has a web interface like utorrent does. I suggest you use that instead.

You could have reset the passwords using a root recovery console but by the time you get this you will have gone to Comet. If you have not I can advise how you set passwords.

actionparsnip: my husaband hasnt had a chance to take t laptop back to comet yet so what ever information you could give me i would be grateful. i do have my own password on my notebook so that is not the problem. when my husband spoke to a specialist from comet he had advised that as the notebook (which is a toshiba nb100) was a display model the settings that had installed for this purpose were not correctly deleted, the person my husband spokje to ran my husband though a number of test by going into to the computer itself, (you when you press f2 or f12 before the coputer loads into ubuntu or windows) and had advised that comet hadnt returned my note book back to the factory settings and had just removed there password. he advised the notebook needed to be reseted back to the factory settings before i could use my notebook fully. thankyou i9 am using transmission for downloading and this is now working i would like to upgrade my ubuntu but i still cant seem to find the program software sources. my notebook does now seem to be working alot better as i have had proper 'play' with it. but am still frustrated that i cant find software sources even though the add and remove program says it is installed if you could help with this i hope this is now enough information for you

actionparsnip: my husaband hasnt had a chance to take t laptop back to comet yet so what ever information you could give me i would be grateful. i do have my own password on my notebook so that is not the problem. when my husband spoke to a specialist from comet he had advised that as the notebook (which is a toshiba nb100) was a display model the settings that had installed for this purpose were not correctly deleted, the person my husband spokje to ran my husband though a number of test by going into to the computer itself, (you when you press f2 or f12 before the coputer loads into ubuntu or windows) and had advised that comet hadnt returned my note book back to the factory settings and had just removed there password. he advised the notebook needed to be reseted back to the factory settings before i could use my notebook fully. thankyou i9 am using transmission for downloading and this is now working i would like to upgrade my ubuntu but i still cant seem to find the program software sources. my notebook does now seem to be working alot better as i have had proper 'play' with it. but am still frustrated that i cant find software sources even though the add and remove program says it is installed if you could help with this i hope this is now enough information for you

Can you install programs with synaptic?If answer is no then you are not in admin group.To reset password read http://psychocats.s465.sureserver.com/ubuntu/resetpassword . Now you have password and you can add yourself to the admin group.Applications>accessories>terminal

sudo adduser username admin

username=your username

If you still don´t see software sources then system>preferences>main menu and on left side scroll until you find system> admin and there must be software sources just maybe unchacked.

Can you give the output of:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get upgrade

Thanks

actionparsnip when i typed in sudo apt-get update and then sudo apt-get upgrade terminal said 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove 0 not upgraded and then went back to becki@toshiba-user:~$
does this mean i cant upgrade to ubuntu 8.10

Of course you can use:

sudo apt-get install update-manager-core; gksudo gedit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

Make the prompt line read:

Prompt=normal

Save the new file and close gedit, now run:

sudo do-release-upgrade