Am I in Permalink Hell

quick question from a newbie. i added the permalink code to go from “ugly” to “pretty” and while it worked i have the problem im sure your aware of… the links dont work and i get the 404 error. i have read how to fix the problem but im not sure i want to go through all of that… so here is my question:

if i simply remove the permalinks that i put in the box on the panel i.e. /%category%/%postname%/

will that revert me back to the uglies with no problems or just give me another headache to deal with.

thanks to anyone willing to take the time to reply

the Captain