i have installed Wc3 TFT and when i go to d/l the patch it completes, then says that 'an error has occoured while trying to apply patch' or somthing

Get your patch here: http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=20673

That should help you out

right after the patch is complete it says d/l complete restart. after i click restart it sends an error button saying 'there was an error applying the upgrade'

just tried this, didn't work when i opened it it said :
Blizzard PrePatch v2.70 compiled on Jul 7 2003
This program patches Warcraft 3

Log created at 2:20 pm on 08/18/2009

ERROR: unable to authenticate archive

RESULT: Prepatch failed

Hmmm, You sure your firewall doesn't block WC3?

It could affect that you can't patch it

checking

it actually was blocked by my firewall, i unblocked it and got the same error. then i completely turned off my firewall, same thing

uninstall it delete the program.
go to blizzard.com create an account with the store add game put in your cd key and download/install it will already be the newest patch.

that sounds like a great idea

i had to do it because i had the same shit happenin to me.