I was given a computer that runs linux and I started it up and it had a start page with lots of program's on it (games, like chess,poker, and other program's) but now they have all gone? how do I get them back?
I am 72 and have no computer skills, a friend is typing this for me as I can not start the (home page) it keeps starting with ----? maker.
please can some one help me as I have lots of time to fill in a day and want to use my computer.

With "home page" you mean exactly what? The start page of your internet navigator? Or a "welcome" program that starts automaticaly?

You can have access to all kids of different software throught the Menu Button on the letf-botton part of the screen, just like "Start" button on Windows.

What distribution do you use?

Any good Linux box will come with lots and lots of software installed. Knowing your distribution (example: Red Hat, Mandrake, Fedora, Debian, etc) I can help you more about where your software is.

What is your internet navigator? It will probably be Firefox of Konqueror. On Firefox you can set up the home page by: clicking "Edit" menu, then "Preferences", then "General". There you can choose your home page, but I cannot know how it was previously set up.

On konqueror you can do this clicking at: Configurations --> Configure Konqueror

I recomend that you set up www.google.com as your home page, because this can make a beginners life much easier

You should be able to access Linux Questions on your own. Just enter your internet navigator (Look for a Firefox or Konqueror icon and click it) and then write www.linuxquestions.com on the white edit box on the upper part of the navigator screen.

Felipe