Re-install or Repair Kubuntu
 

A few months ago I installed Kubuntu on a laptop that already had Windows XP. I made a new partition and everything went pretty well. I am a complete Linux newbie, but I somehow learned to get things set up pretty much the way I wanted them. I made a few mistakes along the way, though, and would kind of like to get a clean slate.

Is there a way to repair or go backwards (similar to Windows System Restore)? Or am I better off just re-installing Kubuntu?

You can reinstall, but first:

dpkg --get-selections > my_list

Then edit that list and remove the packages that you didn't really want and save the list to a USB stick or something. Don't forget to backup important files (unless your /home directory is on a different partition).

Then do a base install ONLY - ideally just the kernel plus a few tools, no extras like GUI etc - but maybe you have no choice about the GUI on Kubuntu.

From the installed base:

dpkg --set-selections < my_list
apt-get dselect-upgrade

that should install all the other programs; you're still responsible for configuring them though.