[iBook] Help for a friend...

[patdart]

A young friend just called and his iBook is giving him 
problems...serious ones.  I couldn't find a way to help him, but told 
him I'd ask y'all for aid...

He has somehow accidentally tried to open a program that was near/ 
under his Word program and is stymied as am I by what's happening.  He 
has an error message on the screen that says "You need to restart your 
computer.  Hold down the power key for several seconds" and when he 
does, it brings him right back to the same screen.  I had him do a soft 
reboot and the same thing happened.  He's running OSX and doesn't know 
which version.  He does have more than one user, if that matters at 
all...but he can't make it escape or give him any other result...can 
anyone help me help him?

Pat