When I boot ubuntu I get a bunch of windows saying "The panel encountered a problem while loading: OAFIID:GNOME_ShowDesktopApplet", with a bunch of others(5) besides ShowDesktopApplet. I am able to launch a terminal, and I do have the taskbar at the top, although the bar at the bottom that holds the windows is blank, so when I minimize a window it disappears. Furthermore, when I try to launch most applications (firefox for example) it segfaults.

I have googled the error but it seems to be common but general issue, and a lot of the solutions that worked for others didn't work for me. I tried deleting the gconf, gnome, and gnome2 folders in my home directory. I tried deleting a bunch of the gnome folders (although I might have done this wrong, I was confused as to which ones).

I have also tried to use apt-get and dpkg to re-install ubuntu-desktop and gnome-applets. However, when I try

apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

I get errors regarding

/var/cache/apt/archives/gnome-applets_2.28.0-0ubunt2_amd64.deb

I tried

dpkg --configure -a

and interestingly I get

Package gnome-applets is not installed.

When I try to use apt-get to install it, that same pesky problem pops up

error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/gnome-applets_2.28.0-0ubunt2_amd64.deb (--unpack) subprocess new post-removal script returned error exist status 245 sub process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code(1)

This file has been popping up with regards to a lot of the solutions suggested I see. Any ideas?