How to install a Tar.gz file (or Tar.bz2 file) Easily

1. Extract your file into a folder such as your documents.

2. Read the Install text or Readme to see if there are any specific instructions or requirements for your package.

3. Make that directory your central directory using the cd command in the terminal.

For example, for one extracted in your documents.

cd /home/username/Documents/YourExtract

4. Run command: ./configure 

This should also tell you if there are any dependencies which are required to be installed.

5. Run command: make 

6. Run command: sudo make install

An Idiots Guide to Installing Truecrypt Quickly and Easily in uBuntu 12.04+

So Truecrypt isn't available in the software centre any more which is a bit of a pain but it's one of those bits of software you can't really do without.

Not to worry.

1. Open up the terminal and type:

For 32bit systems...

wget http://www.truecrypt.org/download/truecrypt-7.1a-linux-x86.tar.gz

Or for 64bit systems...

http://www.truecrypt.org/download/truecrypt-7.1a-linux-x64.tar.gz

2. Extract it... 

tar -zxvf truecrypt*.gz

3. And install it... 

sudo ./truecrypt-7.1a-setup-x86  

And your done!