Ubuntu 12.04 installing programs problem

Question

I'm having trouble installing programs from the web such as Adobe Flash Player and so on. When i download them all that happens is a get a file. Is there a way to get something to like install the programs like Windows has .exe?

Answer 1

Go to "Ubuntu Software Center", and search for Adobe Flash.

Then click to install Adobe Flash Plugin 10

Answer 2

Many ways.

The best is to first check the repository (Software center is one way) for the program, as that will get the correct version, install, and add it to the menu.

If it's not in the repository, the next best way is to find a file with .deb as an extension, download it, right-click and choose "open with Ubuntu software center", which will open it like it was in the repository, but use the local copy.

The last way involves using the command line to either run the file you downloaded, or if it's an archive, unarchive the files into a directory, and look for the script that runs the installation. This step depends on the program, but is often either obvious, or uses a standard set of instructions such as:

./configure 
make 
sudo make install 
clean install

For Flash, I believe you can install that from the Software Center; just type in "flash" in the search field, and install.

Edit: If you use Firefox, you can install a great Firefox plugin called Flash-aid, which does a good job of making flash work well with Firefox. See here for installation instructions

Answer 3

In Firefox

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/

Select: "Linux (32 bit)" on step 1

Select "Flash Player 11 for Ubuntu (apt)" on step 2