My problem has not gone away. I am unable to access any programs that are
in the application menu. Nor can I access the Main Menu option in
System/Preferences.

Check that you have completely rebooted and that you have free drive
space.

I had a Linux install the other day that would allow user to log in,
yet not bring up the desktop. It was a matter of the hard drive being
too full, as freeing space brought everything back to normal. 4 GB was
free but deleting 8 GB more brought it back to life.

Something to check, based upon limited information regarding your
problem to go by.

I appreciate your response, I currently have about 23GB avail. I have been
running Gutsy since it came out and have had no problems until suddenly I
was unable to open the application drop down box. The other two are working
ok. The only other thing it is affecting is the ability to access "main
menu" in the System/Preferences section.

Since I am on "carrier pigeon" (dial-up) I have been reluctant to install
Hardy until some of the bugs are worked out. I fear compounding my problems.

If anyone has other suggestions they are more then welcome to reply. If
worse comes to worse I would be willing to access these programs via
terminal but would need to know just what to input, since many brain cells
have died since my DOS days.

I would be tempted to add a minimalist desktop such as Fluxbox and then totally
remove Gnome and re-install it from Fluxbox. Knowing that you are on dial-up
means that this is not something that you would do unless all else fails. It
could be done from the Live CD, if you change the repositories in Synaptic to
include the CDROM and uncheck other sources (Settings| Repositories| Ubuntu
Software tab in Synaptic). Later you can add them back and remove the CD check
in the box.

I would also consider deleting the .gnome and .gnome2 folders from your home
folder. You will lose your settings, but it is better than being frustrated
continually by menus that don't work. You could try this before you re-install
Gnome if you decide to go that route. Gnome should rebuild them when you log in.