[conspire] application installation

[Rick Moen]

Quoting jose tav (josetav at hotmail.com):

> Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Please some body can tell me how
> to install: install_flash_player_7_Linux.tar.gz, sitting on my
> /Desktop/, and for that matter any application.

Hi, Jose.

1.  You didn't identify your Linux distribution.  Many distributions
have "wrapper" packages that take charge of the installation of
Macromedia Flash (your download), and do it the _right_ way per the
maintenance policy of your distribution.

It would be a good idea if you would identify your Linux distribution.

2.  More generally, to answer your broader question, it is by far best
to install all software using your distribution's management facilites
wherever possible, and using your distribution's own software packages
wherever possible.  There are a large number of separate reasons for
that, but I'm deliberately keeping that explanation simple.

3.  _If_ your distribution lacks such a "wrapper" program, the
last-resort way of installing Macromedia flash is to unpack the file
(see below) and then follow the instructions in its readme file(s),
whatever they are.

To unpack the file, do this at a command shell (and note that "$" stands
for your command prompt, which is usually something more complex such as
yourusername at yourhostname followed by your current directory and finally
"$" at the end):

$ cp ~/Desktop/install_flash_player_7_Linux.tar.gz /tmp
$ cd /tmp
$ tar xvzf install_flash_player_7_Linux.tar.gz

You'll now find the unpacked files / file tree within "/tmp".  If
Macromedia hasn't been a complete screwup, all the unpacked files will
be within a new subdirectory of /tmp.

> The need for the flash_player came when I try to open some websites
> that require it....

Er, perhaps you're not aware of the existence of open sourcde
alternatives to Macromedia Flash, that can likewise handle flash
content.  "Gnash" (formerly "GPL Flash") is said to have gotten to a
stage of completion where it's finally a reasonable alternative --
though I've not tried it.

Personally, I really find Flash generally very annoying, and find that
the ability to handle it is usually a net loss:  With a Flash player
available within your Web browser, you will tend to be deluged with
really annoying and time-wasting advertising that you can avoid by not
having a Flash player present.

Alternatively, you can install the Flashblock extension to Firefox /
Mozilla Navigator, which allows _you_ to decide when/if you are going to
play a Flash animation, and not have it activate simply because you
visited a Web page.

See:
http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/index.php?page=kicking#linuxbrowser

About Gnash, see:  http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/

, I clicked on the tab to download then later on, it notified me: 
> "it need ot be installed manually" and *no* info on how to do it but rather 
> gives a bad link to the needed info.

So, by the way, I hope you don't just install any piece of software a
Web site tells you that you need, for no better reason than it saying
so.  Why would you trust a Web site with your system's security?

> Oh yeah, Daniel mentioned "clamscan" for detecting viruses. but I can find 
> it, I think my spelling is wrong correction please!

Maybe ClamAV?

(<irony>Hey, I remember computer viruses.  Mostly last millennium,
right?  I never really was clear on why people kept running
untrustworthy software like that.</irony>)