I installed some software which inluded tomcat and mysql. Now the software wont run. I need to completly uninstall all previous versions before i can re install the problem is i dont know how to completly remove software from linux? Can anyone help please?

You can either use Synaptic to remove the packages or, if you want to use the command line, apt-get, like

You can remove it using Synaptic Package Manager

so which of the 3 donloads do i choose here:? http://linux.softpedia.com/progDownl...load-2028.html

You should have it in your software center, if it is not already installed. Manually downloading software for installing (the Windows way) is not the way how to do it in Linux, you use your package management system to do that.

If the OP wants to completely remove something he is better off doing
"Remove" leaves configuration files while "purge" removes everything.

Synaptic is the default GUI-based package manager in Mint. You do not need to install it.

If you are using Synaptic, then enter the package name in the search box and press Enter. Right click on the leftmost box and select 'Mark for removal'. To completely remove the package including it's config files, select 'Mark for complete removal'. Press the 'Apply button' to perform the task you selected.

If you want to do it from the CLI:
To remove a package but keep it's config files:
To remove a package including it's config files:
If you want to remove/purge a specific version of a package:
If for some reason the removal left orphaned files, use:
to remove them and recover the disk space.

as user if you are part of sudoers group
if not part of sudoers group add ourself thru visudo