Hmmm -
May I suggest contacting Apple, so they can send a nice courier out to your home OR your work (hey - they'll pick up from ANYWHERE you wish!), and have it repaired FOR FREE under their AppleCare plan (which is standard for the first year, before you have to purchase support for the following two years)? After which, they will return to you a very healthy PowerBook...
Very seldomly, a Mac slips through the "grid", and unfortunately ends up with the consumer. But that is why there's a decent repair/replace programme. I, too, would complain bitterly if no such plan is in place. However, they're there to help - and will repair or replace your "lemon" without fuss.
That's what they do.
Give them a chance.
After all - would you rather be stuck with a computer you can't use for the rest of your days, or one that will be FIXED within days?
THEN may I suggest getting a book like "Mac OSX for Dummies" (and NO - I'm NOT implying you're thick. Those books are brilliant, and very funny to boot. It's a known fact that you tend to retain information if it's entertaining - i.e. I have the sad ability of being able to recite Monty Python skits verbatim, because I enjoyed them. But I digress...). It'll cover all the things you need to know about your OS, it's interface and some programs that you may come across.
There will certainly be other books that forum members can advise you upon, so you're certainly in the right place for help.
Finally, may I suggest to use this forum to ASK FOR HELP and ADVICE, and not to just log on and Mac-Bash? We can all offer assistance with problems you face, and can even steer you in the right direction in the search for programs that are OSX-native, as opposed to your current selection of OS9 ones...
