Messed up screen

I just downloaded and installed ubuntu 10.10 on my Compaq Presario and I am having nothing but problems trying to figure out how to work this system. The one thing that is creating a huge problem with the learning curve is the display. The bar at the base of the screen where the trash can is is cut in half with a black bar covering it. You can also at times see that the screen is being cut off from the left side slightly and is being displayed to the right. The top has an extra amount of the bar there. When you go to click any of the buttons at the top, you have to click above them to get it. I also have this problem, though not as badly in forms or other buttons where I must click slightly above where you would normally. Now I can go play around with the screen resolutions to another one and it will look fine after I do that, everything lines up perfectly and I can click it just fine. But when I save it, it screws up and does the same no matter what the resolution. I tried to download the drivers from the manufacture to see if that would help, but it kept saying it couldn't open the .exe file because it couldn't unzip it. I have looked through all the help files, looked at the Additional Drivers section (which has nothing there) and everything else that I can think of. I have no idea how to fix this and I am highly upset because this has completely overwritten my old OS that I knew inside and out how to fix and use. This OS is a huge undertaking and learning curve which I thought that it wouldn't be from everything that I have read and heard about it.