update manager fails in Ubuntu 8.10
 

Hello,
I get the following error when attempting to install the updates from update manager in Ubuntu 8.10
Error message:
Failed to run /usr/sbin/synaptic '--hide-main-window' '--non-interactive' '--parent-window-id' '56623107' '-o' 'Synaptic::closeZvt=true' '--progress-str' 'Please wait, this can take some time.' '--finish-str' 'Update is complete' '--set-selections-file' '/tmp/tmpojath7' as user root.

Updates ran fine when I first installed ubuntu two months ago.......but somethings changed since then. Are these instructions to run in terminal, in the above error message? If so, I'm new to using linux and terminal commands and will need "terminal for dummies" approach

thx,