Host of problems on a refurbished Macbook OS X 10.4

Question

I recently bought a refurbished macbook os x from surpluscomputers.com. I have always used a windows pc so the past week has been mostly me trying to get aquainted with how a mac works. There are several things on here that just don't seem right and I'm trying to figure out. Whenever I try to open up iChat, it says that my username and password or invalid. I keep trying to go back in and reset my password etc., but no matter what it says invalid.
The battery charge does not last long, even though I charge it all night long. Now I've recently started keeping the charger in whenever I'm not using the macbook so we'll see how that works.
I've tried downloading flashplayer and itunes 9 and it will download but then something goes wrong in the installation process and says it can let me use this form. My macbook is a OS X 10.4 so can I only use a certain one of iTunes and flashplayer?
Sometimes my screen saver works and sometimes it doesn't.
For the fist week I could not open up a script editor page that I typed. I saved it in Documents but it would not let me open it back up to retrieve it or start another one. I don't know what I did today but for some reason I can open it again and type.
I did however download firefox this morning and certain things got better, for instance the script editor opened up again and certain websites looked better like facebook and youtube. But now my firefox web browser shuts down every time I open up my business website. It's been doing that for two days on safari as well and I can't work because it just shuts down every time I go to my business website.
Please help! I'm not the best computer wiz. Anybody have any ideas?

Answer 1

RecoverTeam, welcome to the forums (and to the Mac World!). Let's see if we can get your issues dealt with. I've got a few questions that will help pinpoint the troubles:
1)Did you receive any installation discs with this computer? If not, contact Apple and order replacements right away, as you'll need them in the future.
2) Exactly which version of OS X 10.4 do you have? Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner & then choose *About This Mac*. Underneath the text *Mac OS X* you should see the word version followed by 10.4.x. What's listed for the x?
3) For iChat, are you using an AOL Instant Messenger screenname and password?
4) For your battery, let's check on the health. Open *System Profiler* in Applications>Utilities, then click on Power in the left-hand column. Copy the battery information and paste it here.
We'll look at the iTunes, Flash and browser issues once you've answered the questions I have so far You may need to update your computer's operating system before those issues can be resolved.
~Lyssa