Some doubts about using Fedora (finally, well installed!)

[jordboal]

When somebody wants to install a program -first, it must be downloaded to Downloads folder (I translate from Catalan carpeta Baixades, so, I think that it is Downloads folder)-, can he install at Files system (in hard disk) or does he have to install at his User group? I tried to install some programs in Files system and the computer did not allow me and I had to do it in the User group. Adobe Flash player did not allow me to install it across the visual environment of Linux and I had to do it at the terminal/console (which is like MS DOS or System symbol in Windows). After running install file appeared there a message which said that the installation had gone well, but when I saw again the web page where Adobe Flash player was necessary for a part at the top, it seemed not to be installed. But the next day this web page did not ask for it. Perhaps I had to reinitialize the web navigator or even the computer.
A friend of mine has answered to me aobut it that I should install the programs as ROOT (I suppose he means at the root directory or folder, and if I do so, the computer will install the programs where they must be installed.

When somebody wants to erase/delete archives or files (in Linux, an archive contains different files, so they are not the same), also from the Paper bin, what he has to do? I saw that to erase and send them to Paper bin I have not enough by going to menu System, Preferences, System, Authorizations and remove Ask for permission to erase files, but I had to right-click over every fils which I wanted to erase and I had to remove its permission to erase it. But when I heve them at Paper bin, what I have to do to erase them?

[jordboal]

The Paper bin doesn't erase the folders with compressors for tar.gz, but it did erase files which I sent there yesterday. Is that because it detects the compressors as they were system programs and it doesn't want to erase them...?

[SomeDamFool]

Your friend meant install programs as the root user. In a terminal type:
su -
then enter the root password
Then you can install anything.

The paper bin (recycle bin?) doesn't erase (wipe/shred) files, it deletes them, there is a difference. If there is something in there you can't delete they may belong to a different user. tar.gz files will delete if they belong to you (user).
Mike

[jordboal]

Thanks a lot to answer and to do it so fast.
These folders with compressors for tar.gz format are the ones which cannot be deleted or erased or... By the way, what is the difference among erase, delete, wipe and shred?

[sonoran]

"delete" removes the file from the filesystem "database" - the file is still there, but it becomes invisible. Since the filesystem now does not see the file, it may use that "free" space for something else, writing over the original file.

"erase, wipe & shred" will copy zeros or patterns of random data over the contents of the file before deleting it, making recovery almost impossible. I say almost because in theory, once something has been written to disk, there are machines that can "peel away" subsequent overwrites and recover the original data (nsa, fbi supposedly can do this - hi fellas ).

[leadgolem]

The simplest way, and the one that provides the most useful output, to do most things is in the terminal. This is because if you copy/paste the commands it's really hard to mess up.

When you are installing browser plugins you usually do need to restart the browser for them to function. Since it did work I will assume that you installed the rpm. You can usually install rpms by double clicking on them after download. You will then be asked for your root password. As mentioned above, root is an admin account. So, you need that password to install anything. RPM's themselves contain the correct destination information for a package to install.

Again, as mentioned above you probably managed to get something in your trash that isn't owned by your user. Hence your inability to get rid of it. I have done that before, it's annoying. The easiest way to fix this is as follows.

su
You now need to enter your root password giving this terminal admin privileges.
chown -R "$USERNAME":"$USERNAME" "/home/$USERNAME/.Trash"

That will change the ownership of anything in your trash to your user. You should then be able to empty your trash. It is possible to do this in the gui, but it's a pain. it is also important to use the "su" command, not the "su -" command. "su -" gives you root $PATH and changes some variables. Such as $USERNAME to reflect that you are now root. "su" gives you the admin privileges without making most of the other changes.

Anything preceded by a $ is a variable. It will be filled in either by what you define, or by the system automatically for your user account. If you want to see what a variable actually is then you can tell the system to "echo" it. IE "echo $USERNAME" should print your username on the command line.

Hopefully that will clear up a few things, or possibly confuse you even more.