I just installed adobe acrobat reader. and when i tried to access it from the menu, it appeared on the desktop, with a lock on it. and i cant seem to delete it. it appears twice on the menu, i cant edit that either. it says in the properties, owned by root. even if i type my root password, that still keeps me from editing it. when i go to the terminal, it says cannot set lc all no such file exists.

what should i do?

many thanks.

Open a terminal type su after that type in the password for it.
Next type cd /home/username/Desktop, now you should be in your own desktop folder here type in la or ls -a here you should see all your desktop icons or any other files located on your desktop! Now it should be easy, the command is: rm the/file/you wanna/delete or you could do the next to: chmod +w /the/file/you/wanna/acces/as/normaluser, Now you should be able do delete or modify it as normal user! Remember don't panic if no message comes up after the command, Linux will only bother you if you do a mistake.
There is a third way to : open up a root terminal as described above and type in mc this should give you a file manager same as Norton Commander in the god old days... so if you're familiar with that you know what you have to do... if not: navigate to your home directory there get in to the Desktop directory and just use F8 when the file you wanna delete is selected...
There are many ways to get to Rome especially when you use linux.... have fun
God luck