how do I unlock folders in my home folder

Probably from a terminal you can remove them with the rm command and you may have to either change permissions, owner, or simply "sudo rm {filename}" the files.

I don't follow. Not sure what an rm command is.
I am very new to Ubuntu.
I am accustomed to being able to remove a file that I pasted into a folder.

try this, open your terminal
type:

sudo chmod 777 /home -R

(it will be ask your password but, just type your password and enter)

and try to remove your file

Tq ^-^

This is embarrassing.
How do I open my terminal?
I consider myself very capable with XP. I am just a toddler again with this OS.

If you don't have an icon to click on, you should be able to find it under
Applications - Accessories - Terminal
If not there, you should be able to press Alt + F2 keys together and then type xterm followed by a carriage return.
If the folder/files you wish to delete are on your desktop you will then have to type the following:
cd Desktop #This will change your location to your Desktop ***or use documents if that is where the folder exists
ls -la #This will show you all that's on your desktop, including permissions, owner and group of each file/folder

I would avoid changing permissions recursively of everything to 777, and just remove the files or folder you wish.
If you are not the owner of the directory or files you can
sudo chown {your login name} {folder/file name}
If you are very careful you can remove the folder and all the files contained with
sudo rm -r {folder name} This recursively removes the files and then the folder.

type man rm in the terminal screen and that will explain all this better than me. Use q to exit the man page.

Sorry better here...

The simply way is to run nautilus with root permission (the predefined admin user of the system) using gksudo...
So on a desktop without any window opened type:

Press ALT+F2 keyboard keys (a little centerd window will appear)

in that window type:

gksudo nautilus

give your user password when asked by the system.

Browse look for you folder and delete it...

Close the running Nautilus opened with root user permission (with gksudo).
BTW usually is not a good idea to run nautilus with root privileges...

Hope this helps

Thanks marcobra, that solved my question.

Thanks very much.
I installed Ubuntu on a salvage computer for my daughter to play online games. I did very little with it. I just built my first PC from the box up yesterday, and decided to try this OS. Bill G doesn't have this kind of support. Thanks to all. I plan on breaking something else soon, so I'll be in touch.

I have a locked file. How did it get locked? I never, ever have needed a locked file. How do I get rid of this forever.

Marcobra- Ive been looking for that solution all morning.thanks worked straight away