Hi Brian and Walter, Thanks for getting back to me. I have moved past the problem by blowing away in install and reinstalling Ubuntu, a bit of over kill I know, but moved onto 12.10 as the reinstall image, so no real loss to me, but the file is no longer available for troubleshooting. Before I go any further, know that you have my utmost respect for your roles/skills/capabilities in the Ubuntu/Linux project. I cannot do what you guys do, and you guys are doing a very good thing. I wrote code for routers and switches in the past, and so understand software coding and development and just how complex any change, even a seemingly minor one, can be. My only concern/comment, as someone who really wants linux to continue to grow in in the desktop/laptop space, is that the update manager/software center would effectively break due to a single improperly formatted line in '/etc/apt/sources.list'. I can work around a problem like this (use command-line to manage software installs/updates, reinstall the OS, delete the offending line now that I know what I to break it and what to look for in the future, etc), but someone like my wife or business partners would run into this and go buy Windows or a Mac. In this particular case, I broke the file (improperly formatted line), user inflicted damage, I accept responsibility. But it would be great if a single broken line in 'etc/apt/sources.list', regardless of how the line was broken, did not cripple the usability of the software center. I do not have time to attempt to recreate the problem and then troubleshoot/investigate at the moment, but will towards the end of April, if you want to pursue this further. If not, I am ok with that as well. Cheers, ^^bc On 29 March 2013 11:02, Brian Murray