[PLUG] Apt-get is corrupted?

[Vedanta Teacher]

Greetings,


   A few weeks ago I gave a system (ASUS laptop, 4 gig ram, 250 gig SSD)
in Linux mint 18.0 and not knowing what to do she downloaded things directly
from the internet (I did encourage her to take classes @ FG). Now the system
will not update and the message comes up 'apt-get is corrupted' . She also
has problems with the HDMI connection not recognizing an external monitor
(she wants to watch things on her laptop projected on her TV , mine worked
just fine on the same connection).

I pulled things on the news groups and people suggested:

apt-get -f install

sudo apt-get install -f

sudo dpkg --configure -a

I don't know if anything in Synaptic will work.

If not I'll teach her how to do a fresh install.


Blessings,
Paul W.