add/remove software [read this reply, not the other]

[Mario Vukelic]

On Sun, 2007-01-21 at 11:35 -0500, Erik Schmidt wrote:
> and how exactly do I use the synaptic package manager to fix things?

In Synaptic, search for the package you initially wanted to install with
Add/Remove. Doubleclick it to mark it for installation. Then click Apply
in the toolbar. 
If there are any conflicts, Synaptic will alert you to resolve them by
deciding which of the conflicting packages you want to keep. 

For more details, open the Help menu in Synaptic. Open the entry
Contents. In the left side pane, go to Managing Packages.

> please forgive me, I am an extreme newbie 

No problem, we all were there one time or other, even if some of us had
to deal with less sophisticated tools :)