Generic folder icons and ejecting CDs

[noob]

Hi. I am new to Mac - I have an iBook G3, running OS X. I've only had it a couple of days, but have run into a couple of problems. Firstly, I tried downloading Safari. After I had done this (before installing it) the pointer changed to a coloured spinning disc, and stayed like that, no matter what I tried. I finally managed to sort things out with the restore disks and install discs, however now some of the application icons (iCal and AppleWorks) are just generic icons - they still work, but how can I change them back to the proper icon? The other thing is that I can no longer drag a CD icon into trash to eject, I hae to use F12 - what's going on?! Thanks for any suggestions!