[SOLVED] how do you activate universe and what is it

[convulution]

okay i downloaded a new live cd onto a usb that did not work i tried downloading the full version of ubuntu 10.10. I think it is because when my computer running vista I downloaded the full version of ubuntu 10.10 and then i formated the disk so that it would not boot well then i got a live cd and tried to re download the full version but that old download that does not work anymore wont let itself to be over wrote because it says that i do not have permission to delete the file so i tried to get at it through terminal. but when i tried to get at it said that i needed to activate universe

[devils casper]

Which package are you trying to install? Sources are listed in /etc/apt/sources.list file. You can edit it manually (open file in Terminal and remove # sign before lines having word universe) or through Synaptic Package Manager.

Look for Package Manager in Administration menu and open it. Click on Settings in Menu of Synaptic and enable Universe sources. Click on Reload button. Synaptic will fetch list of latest packages. Search and install package. Here is a tutorial on Synaptic. It's a lot easier to install packages through Synaptic instead of command line.