Thank you for that info Shorena. I haven't had any issues until now, so I just haven't updated since I first downloaded it. I am always afraid I'm going to mess things up when they already work fine. I guess that i can still use the third party technique, or is it so outdated that it's no longer available? What do you think is the best way to procede considering the circumstances? Thanks again for your time and advice!

Unfortunately it looks like im using v0.8.2-beta when i look under the drop down menu under about bitcoin. Also, under the drop down menu for about qt it looks like im using qt 4.8.3. I would hope that I could still apply the same instructions you suggested for alternate versions, but i'm sure it won't be that easy. If know a way to do what you what you explained with the version I have, I would love to know and finally solve this problem. I thank you again for taking the time to explain things in a way that I can follow. I appreciate the fact that there are good people out there that are still willing to help, that's one of the reasons I enjoy the time I spend online.

First of all thank you to shorena and danny hamilton for being people I can trust. I am fairly adept at weeding thru bullshit and I get a good feeling from you guys. Thank you for telling me how to find what version of core i'm using, those are the type of things that help me and hopefully teach me so that I wont have to ask for help in the future. It seems that some are trying to get info from me that will help them to steal the coins. As far as the notion that I sent less than 5 btc on my original transfer is wrong. The 5 coins made it to their destination and were used to make a purchase. We can eliminate that possibility. Before I paid to get access to this site I tried to find answers elsewhere and couldn't find a dilemma that was exactly the same. One piece of advice I got tho was to download the entire blockchain over until it shows up, someone said coins that were lost reappeared after doing this like 4 times. So far I have only done that once and I had no luck. I plan to make a backup of my wallet as suggested and proceed from there. This may sound like a dumb question but, do I have one singular wallet id to look for on a block explorer or is my wallet basically the combination of all of the addresses i've used to receive coins over time? As I said I am self taught and I really don't learn new skills to navigate until I am forced to. I guess you could say I like to stick with what works. Again, thank you to everyone who has offered to help.

Yes, my wallet is core i believe. I am not advanced in comp science, everything I know I taught myself by just reading online. I have had this wallet for approx 3 yrs never had an issue. I am not sure what version, what i see is bitcoin qt. I'm not sure if that helps anyone. When I redownloaded the blockchain from the beginning, I reset my comp to an earlier save point. I was then forced to download all 365 weeks and when finally in sync, my balance was still 0.00  I think i will try to run my info thru a wallet block explorer as suggested. I am not sure how or which one is the best to use tho.
Another aspect of this dilemma is that the address I sent the wrong amount to no longer exists. It was at a market where the address gets regenerated every time you send coin there. I used the address my wrong amount was supposed to go to a few days later, and everything worked fine. The fact that that address was still available means that it definitely never made it to the market account. The old market addresses are wiped away forever after seven days of being used, and any coins sent to that address after seven days are lost forever. I believe my coins should be in my wallet still, but aren't being shown. Either that or they are floating around somewhere. I hope this helps the people who are willing to give me some advice. I thank everyone who has taken the time to offer suggestions.

I hate to ask for help, but I also hate to lose my coins and I can't find answers anywhere else. Here is my issue: I had approx 8.5 btc in my wallet, then I sent 5 to another acct. After checking to see that my 5 btc transfer had been confirmed I noticed that I had more coins showing in my wallet than I should've. Instead of approx 3.5 left, I had a weird number like 7.925 approx. I wanted to see if I could spend it, so I decided to send it to the same place I had sent the 5 btc earlier. My comp flashed something like an error with a funny noise so quickly I couldn't really read it, and also all of my coins were gone. This includes the real amount I should've had and the money that appeared from nowhere. I waited to see if it would show up and it never made it to where I sent, probably because I didn't really have as much as my wallet showed. I re-downloaded the entire blockchain hoping my 3.5 would reappear since my transfer should've been rejected in the first place. They did not reappear however. I have a transaction id from the attemped transfer that doesn't show up when searched for on the blockchain. I can see that there was a fee charged also, so there must be some record of this and some way to get my coins back. I don't know how to track them down if it's even possible, or how my wallet could've shown more coins than I really even possessed. This problem is over my head, I need the community to help me out on this one if possible. I can't afford to let those coins just stay in limbo. Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!