The error message actually says that there is a problem and you can fix it by running "sudo dpkg --configure -a". If you run this command in a terminal, it will reconfigure all packages that you have installed. This should resolve the problem that is preventing your updates from working. You should then be able to update propery, and your system should work properly again.
If your web browser doesn't work, then it's probably a damaged update; maybe some part of the update completed but not all of it, so some programs won't work properly. Since this happened when reinstalling Vista, I suspect that the Vista overwrote the boot partition on the disk, which may have caused problems installing a kernel update.
Basically, you should be able to run
Code:
sudo dpkg --configure -a
followed by
Code:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
This may reset some custom settings, such as your video driver, but shouldn't cause any problems you haven't seen before on your installation. Also, you may be asked some questions while the dpkg command is running; the defaults are always a reasonable choice if you are unsure.
