Flash CS5 Button Help

Question

To start, I'm a total newbie in Flash, so I'm sorry if what I'm asking is ridiculously primitive, but I was literally thrown into this blindfolded and I'm using google and several forums to help me out.
What I'm doing:  redesigning a website.  At the moment, the website has a flash file that introduces it's logo and subcategories of its' website on the top of the page.  What I wanted to do was make sure there was a hyperlink on the logo that would bring anyone back to the homepage, very basic stuff.  The issue I have run into is that the logo is actually a flash movie.  Different parts of the logo appear at different times, and I think this is what is specifically causing me issues.
The logo that I want to hyperlink has several layers, and what I've done so far is select them all and create a button (F8, select 'Button' and rename it).  When I did that, I noticed the layers significantly changed and when I tested the movie, it looks terrible, choppy and not how it originally looked.
I know the step after that is to go into behaviors and insert the url to which I want it to be hyperlinked.  The only thing is that I don't want to show a terrible flash movie to my boss even if it's hyperlinked to the homepage. 
Anyone understand all that gibberish I wrote down?  Or does anyone see a flaw in what I'm doing?  I'm not 100% positive if the steps I'm taking are correct, I've been to several different sites, all of which tell me to do different things. 
Initially I tried coding it with ActionScript, but I was having terrible issues with that as well. 
If it helps, the file I'm working on was altered a while back.  Could it be that the file is not compatible or proper for Flash CS5? 
Help!!!

Answer 1

... how do I give that shape/button a url?
Since it is a button, it is already a self animating object that will react to mouse interactions, but only visually at this stage.  The first thing you need to do to make it useful code-wise is to assign it a unique instance name.  So you drag a copy of it out to the stage from the library, and while it's still selected, you enter that unique instance name for it in the Properties panel... let's say you name it "btn1"
In AS3, to make a button work with code, you need to add an event listener and event handler function for it.  You might need to add a few (for different events, like rollover, rollout, clicking it, but for now we'll just say you want to be able to click it to get a web page to open.  In the timeline that holds that button, in a separate actions layer that you create, in a frame numbered the same as where that button exists, you would add the event listener:
btn1.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, btn1Click);
The name of the unique function for processing the clicking of that button is specified at the end of the event listener assignment, so now you just have to write that function out:
function btn1Click(evt:MouseEvent):void {
   var url:String = "http://www.awebsite.com/awebpage.html";
   var req:URLRequest = new URLRequest(url);
   navigateToURL(req);
... how do I know it's properly placed on the correct area?
What area?  If you place it where you want it, that should be correct. (?)
... how do I make sure it's invisible...?
If you can't see it when you test the file and you know it's there and your cursor turns into  a hand when you are over where it should be, it's invisible.
...how do I see the other objects in the flash file I'm working on?
Select Edit -> Edit Document to get out of the symbol editing mode and back to the file editing mode.  If you doubleclick an object on the stage, rather than clickingit in the library, you open it up in editing mode on the stage, but the stage and everything else will still be visible behind it in a faded tone.