after see my friends struggle with weird windows problems, anti-virus software killing windows etc. I've given up dealing with that stuff when I went to linux years ago. I don't even download software any more. I'm much lazier - if it's not in a repositry I re-evaluate my need for that software.

windows people won't even know what I'm talking about.

well, to install a piece of software I just open the terminal (under applications -> accessories -> terminal) and say

>sudo apt-get install [X]