Gfilui

I updated my Ubuntu this morning, as I've done hundreds of times before, and so much seems to have gone off-kilter:

1. My cursor keys no longer work correctly. If I move L or R, the cursor goes up or down. This happens in Thunderbird, SoftMaker Office 2018 for Linux, and LibreOffice. When I type in the Thunderbird subject line, my browser (Chrome) activates!




2. Also, my system sound, which used to be a popping sound, now sounds like loud radio distortion, nothing intelligible. How can I change this, even if just to get back to the default popping sound?




3. And how does one change the sound, such as notification for e-mail, or succesful download anyway? Do I need to do this in Terminal? There's no control that I can find in system settings. And how can I learn how to change my sound clips? The Ubuntu “user manual” leaves MUCH to be desired. Any suggestions on how to repair these problems, or for an easy-to-obtain instruction manual?

I’m a Mac user since the Mac debuted. I also have used Microsoft’s OSs since MS-DOS. I became an Ubuntu user about 16 months ago, when I decided to jettison Windows -- a horrible OS --completely and have learned much via what I will call “hunt and peck.” It’s been fun, and sometimes frustrating. But today’s new problems have me MORE than frustrated.

I am an Ubuntu 16.04 LTS user and update daily using a 2012 ASUS K53E laptop.