Why do I only have the "Home" and "View tabs" in my Paint program

I just purchased a PC TouchSmart with Win.7 installed on it. I've had tons of problems with it. In my Paint program I only have 2 toolbar tabs to work with ( "Home" and "View tabs"). I cant even use colors.?. all my color boxes are black and white. you can make a custom color and add it to the bar but when you try and use it to pencil, fill, or brush it shows up black and white on the document??

Well, why do you want to use Paint after all? It is not very good. I recommend you to upgrade to Paint.NET. It's a free Paint-like program, but is much more advanced. And, according to them, it is sometimes compared to Photoshop in it's capabilities. I recommend it. Download it here: http://www.getpaint.net/

I think the answer to your question is:
right click the bar with the "Home" and "View" icons. UNtick "Minimise the Ribbon".
This will reveal more functions. The ribbon is a Windows 7 introduced feature in several of their programs.
For the very average graphics user, Paint provides all you need. For more advanced manipulation, the Paint.net is superb. And free!