Help needed for list of problems

I m a newbie to suse/linux community, and a bit confused about suse usage. few days back i installed ubuntu on my system (Dell Optiplex 330) with dual boot with win xp but removed it because of a bug which ubuntu community was unable to provide help to me. so shifted on to suse.
but suse a lots different from ubuntu… i m facing few difficulties in this suse installation, for which i m here. Plz help me…:

  1. How can we access windows partitions in suse. Unlike in ubuntu, when i go to places option on the top panel bar, there is no list of windows partitions in the window that pops up. how can we correct this error or any other way to access windows files.

  2. how can i install vlc media player in vuze. i need one media player to play videos and audio, but the one provided needs codecs and there are none. i have heard vlc is best for linux. till now i used k lite media codecs in win xp and was happy to use it. can we use it for linux too. or can u suggest one good media player for suse which has the latest codecs to play media files.

  3. when i open Yast, it asks for a password, i put my password in the space provided, but then it disappears. what is the problem with Yast. why can’t i see it?

  4. How can i configure my internet connection manually. i installed suse earlier but at that time my internet was off, so couldn’t use internet on that installation even though i filled ip address, gateway, netmask, etc. so i had to reinstall my suse 11.0 again with internet on so that it configures automatically while installing. this seems very difficult and i think it is a step backward rather than a development towards update.

  5. Is there any other way to update the system (rather than use zypper command in terminal) When i tried to update with the commands Application > System > configuration > system update, the suse failed to update, but then i read in one forum to update with zypper refresh and zypper up commands, that way i could update suse. is there any other simpler way , i mean graphical way too.

One one last thing, my frenz, plz keep the terminology as simple as possible as i am unaware of most terms, used in the linux commands. I searched answers to these problems in linux forums but couln’t understand most of them, So thats why i am re asking these simple questions (simple for you, but definitely not for me). I am using gnome environment.

Thanks for the help, in advance.

  1. HowTo Mount NTFS Filesystem Partition Read Write Access in openSUSE 10, 11

  2. Multi-media and Restricted Format Installation Guide - openSUSE Forums

You may have a problem if Yast is not working and so may have to use zypper temp.
Make sure you have a internet connection and open a terminal

go su

zypper refresh

zypper up

see if this fixes yast

Once you get yast working it will be easier for you to do 4 and 5