installing sw\drivers in ubuntu

[chicha]

I did search for some time but did not get any threads.

i installed ubuntu 8.04 i got the net running and i downloaded driver for my 8600GT the thing is that i do not know how to install stuff in liunx. when i double click the driver a error message says
"Could not open the file /home/batman/Desktop/NVI…x86_64-173.14.05-pkg2.run using the Western (ISO-8859-15) character coding.
Please check that you are not trying to open a binary file.
Select a different character coding from the menu and try again."

what is this and how do i install drivers?

[FilledVoid]

I believe all you have to do is Install the Drivers in the Restricted Drivers Applet in the Menu. is there a certain reason why you have to download the drivers to install?

[chicha]

no perticular reason to update the drivers.
but i want to know how to install sw in general.

[NucleusKore]

Use envy from here http://www.albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html

But make sure you remove all the existing drivers with
sudo apt-get –purge remove nvidia-glx nvidia-settings nvidia-kernel-common linux-restricted-modules*

Else you'll be in a mess

[chicha]

the drivers for some visual effects.
but what i want to know now is how to install software like download them from somwhere and install them. like for example i want to download VLC player i download it from their website and then i want to know how to install that.