Ok I give up , I am at the point now where all I want to be able to do is use my netbook again for more than just surfing the net . What operating system can I download straight onto the thing without messing about with external devices . There has to be a way to download an operating system direct from the internet that will allow me to boot up and run with a desktop that looks something like windows xp with icons and simple to use and download programs again in the future like I can with XP on my PC. Im such a novice that even if I could get to my Xfce or terminal it wouldn’t really help . From what I can make out a live download is what I need but from where and what program .Anything except linux lite .

It's Linpus Lite, not Linux Lite. Anyway, you can download all manner of different linux distributions, but you need either an external CD drive or a USB flash drive to install. (Well, you can do a network install, but it's much more complicated to setup if you don't know what you're doing.) The easiest way is to use unetbootin to make a bootable USB flash drive, and load up from there. : http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

You may have a look here for the distributions, if you like (follow the comments too) http://www.internetling.com/2009/02/14/top-5-netbook-linux-distributions/