How do i execute a program in a file?

I'm not sure I understand. You will not be able to install IE in Ubuntu unless you do so in wine. Windows programs won't run in Ubuntu (or any Linux for that matter) unless you use something like wine. I've never used wine so if you want to run IE via wine I would suggest changing the title of this question so those who know wine can help (or post a new question).

A program that says to run with ./ has to be set up first to be executable. The directions don't always explain that. Before you do this, however, I'd make sure you really need it. It's almost always preferable to not go adding apps this way. I'll explain more in a bit. If you really want to run this, you will need to open a terminal and change to the directory where it's installed. for example, if it's on the desktop do

cd Desktop

Then you have to change the file to be executable.

sudo chmod +x filename

Then you can run it.

./filename

If you are installing, you probably need to preface with sudo (to get admin rights for installing)

sudo ./filename

Sometimes you will find programs designed to be installed in Linux then it's pretty easy but depends on the type of file you downloaded. The most straight-forward end with .deb (like .exe in windows). You can just double click these to install. On occasion it won't install if you are missing other packages that it depends on. If you downloaded source code it's a bit more involved. If you can post the file you downloaded we can help you figure out how to install it.

One question? Why do you want to run IE? Firefox comes with Ubuntu and in many ways it's a much better app. If you are a web developer and need to test in IE that's one thing but if you are a normal desktop user then I'd suggest adapting to firefox. Running in wine is not an ideal solution and IE really has nothing to offer.

If you need to install something in Ubuntu it couldn't be easier. Unlike with windows, you don't have to search the net and download it. Just open up the add/remove tool. It's under the applications menu. From there you can search for a bunch of different apps and just click to install. If you want even more options open up the Synaptic Package Manager (under system - admin).

the reason i wont o run IE is because with fire fox. i am unable to upload photos. if it was for Myspace, or down to putting pics on cragslist. so i heard form a friend that (he is also running ubuntu) and said he has the same problem with putting up pics on these sites and many other ones as well. hes not a new comer to using ubuntu. in fact i look to him if i have problems. so when i went to him about this and told me about how i should try putting IE on ubuntu and see if that works. so i tried and ran into a few problems and he doesn't even know what to do.
so i DL a package to see if i can do it so ya. the name of the file is:
ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
theres a little read me in there and i tried to do what it said to do, but i still dont get it.
i think that i have also DL the latest wine and i think it installed it self.
so can u help me?

the reason i wont o run IE is because with fire fox. i am unable to upload photos. if it was for Myspace, or down to putting pics on cragslist. so i heard form a friend that (he is also running ubuntu) and said he has the same problem with putting up pics on these sites and many other ones as well. hes not a new comer to using ubuntu. in fact i look to him if i have problems. so when i went to him about this and told me about how i should try putting IE on ubuntu and see if that works. so i tried and ran into a few problems and he doesn't even know what to do.
so i DL a package to see if i can do it so ya. the name of the file is:
ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
theres a little read me in there and i tried to do what it said to do, but i still dont get it.
i think that i have also DL the latest wine and i think it installed it self.
so can u help me?

i also tired what u told me to do and that didnt work.

Can you give me a link to the site where you downloaded that? It looks like it's a source package so you will need to compile it. It's not hard but before I try and explain it I'd like to make sure what it is first.

However, I really don't think you need IE. Firefox should be able to upload photos to just about any site. I don't use my space but I've uploaded to fliker, craigslist and others without any issues. There are also firefox extensions that will mimic IE. One of those might meet you needs as well.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419 for example

If you really want to get IE running in Ubuntu give me a link to the download site and I'll if I can walk you though the install. However, I think you will be happier if you stick to firefox and just address whatever issues you have there.

Wait, I think I found it. Is this it?

http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/page/Main_Page

If so, that runs in wine and I've never used wine so can't really help. However, there are some instructions on that site. They are a bit out dated (for edgy not feisty) but you can install wine automatically with the add/remove tool (apps - add/remove). Then you should be able to install the ies4linux following the steps I outlined above. You do need to untar the file.

tar zxvf ies4linux-latest.tar.gz

and I think you will need to chmod it too (a step they skip on their instructions so not sure). Make sure you change to the directory for ies4linux.

sudo chmod +x ies4linux

Then run it

./ies4linux

I don't really know about wine but the directions say you need the "cabextract" package too so you may need to install that before this will work. Again, just a guess since I don't use wine.

the link that is in the read me is:
http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux

i dont know if thats where i got it from because i cant remember where i got it so is that what your looking for?

ok i just tried what u said to do in the terminal and i got.
~$ tar zxvf ies4linux-latest.tar,gz
tar: ies4linux-latest.tar,gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
~$ sudo chmod +x ies4linux
PD
chmod: cannot access `ies4linux': No such file or directory
~$ ./ies4linux
bash: ./ies4linux: No such file or directory

so u can see what is going on with this?
and if this gets to complicated then why dont i just then use the other think that u suggested
and use that.

You have to change to the same directory where the downloaded file is located. If you did that, make sure you type the name right. I'm not sure my file name was exactly what you downloaded.

I don't follow what you mean?
how do i change the directory?
im now also trying to install Azureus.
can you help me there?

When you open a terminal you are usually in your home folder but that is not always where files download. Often they are downloaded to the desktop. It depends on how you have firefox configured. Assuming it downloaded to the desktop, you need to change to the desktop (it's basically just a folder). In a terminal type

cd Desktop

Your terminal should display something like

user@ubuntu:~/Desktop$

for your prompt. From there run the tar and other command (assuming that's where the files are). Once extracted you will need to change to the new directory if one is created.

cd ies4linux

Or what ever the folder is called.

As for azureus, you might want to check out automatix. It makes installing a bunch of things easy.

http://www.getautomatix.com/

Azureus is also in the repos so you can install it with Synapic but it seems to have problems with java. Automatix might be a better option.

ok i did the tar and this is what i got:

:~/Desktop$ tar zxvf ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
ies4linux-2.0.5/
ies4linux-2.0.5/lib/
ies4linux-2.0.5/lib/messages.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lib/flash.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lib/install.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lib/download.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lib/ies4linux.svg
ies4linux-2.0.5/lib/ui.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lib/functions.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lib/terminal.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/winereg/
ies4linux-2.0.5/winereg/ie55.reg
ies4linux-2.0.5/winereg/ie6.reg
ies4linux-2.0.5/winereg/homepage.reg
ies4linux-2.0.5/winereg/.ie1.reg
ies4linux-2.0.5/winereg/ie5.reg
ies4linux-2.0.5/winereg/.ie2.reg
ies4linux-2.0.5/ui/
ies4linux-2.0.5/ui/ies4linux.py
ies4linux-2.0.5/ui/gtkgui.py
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/csCZ.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/ptBR.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/enUS.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/nlNL.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/heIL.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/itIT.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/frFR.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/ruRU.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/trTR.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/jaJP.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/nbNO.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/zhTW.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/huHU.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/plPL.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/daDK.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/esAR.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/deDE.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/bgBG.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/zhCN.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/skSK.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/slSI.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/svSE.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/roRO.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/ltLT.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/etET.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/esES.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/caES.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/esMX.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/fiFI.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/eoXX.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/siSI.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/srYU.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/idID.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/lvLV.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/lang/msMY.sh
ies4linux-2.0.5/LICENSE
ies4linux-2.0.5/README
ies4linux-2.0.5/ies4linux
:~/Desktop$ sudo chmod +x ies4linux
Password:
chmod: cannot access `ies4linux': No such file or directory

then i tired the other step you told me and i did it and also came up with that and the end there.
whats wrong now?

ok i tired to cd ies4linux and i got nothing. it said:
:~/Desktop$ cd ies4linux
bash: cd: ies4linux: No such file or directory

Looks like it extracts a different folder name.

ies4linux-2.0.5/ies4linux

So change dir to that folder

cd ies4linux-2.0.5

and then run the chmod and ./ies4linux

Not sitting in front of your computer it's hard to know for sure where things are downloading, what directories are created and such so if the above don't work try checking what was extracted to find the ies4linux file. Remember, from the terminal it can only see the folder you are currently looking in unless you specify the specific path. That means it's easiest to just change to the dir containing the file you want to work with.

ok whats dir?
Everything i DL is going to my desktop.
i got it to cd ieslinux-2.0.5, but then when i tried to chmod it. it didnt work and said
:~/Desktop/ies4linux-2.0.5$ sudo chmod +xies4linux
Password:
chmod: missing operand after `+xies4linux'
Try `chmod --help' for more information.

so what could be going wrong with the chmod now?

i would like to take the chance and thank you for all your help so far. its very nice of you and really appreciate it. you have been a lot of help so far and helping me understand this all. so thank you =)

You're welcome. And I think you are almost there. Just a minor error. Dir is just short for directory. Like a folder in windows. If you are in the ies4linux-2.0.5 folder then you should be fine. The error you got is because you left out a space between the "x" and the "ies..." part. It should look like this:

~/Desktop/ies4linux-2.0.5$ sudo chmod +x ies4linux (hard to tell but there is a space there)

If you get this to run, that's about all the help I can offer. I have no experience with ies4linux or wine.

ok i now did that and now i tried to run it and it says:
:~/Desktop/ies4linux-2.0.5$ ./ies4linux
bash: ./ies4linux: Permission denied
i did put my password in right well i think i did. and so from there i then turned off my comp and rebooted.
and i went through the proseces again and made sure i put my password in right and still says it above.
i dont know how this could be? i even went back to make sure that i would be able to run folder as a program and it selected to do that.

Try using sudo to run

sudo ./ies4linux

and see if that fixes it.

Permission denied usually just means you need to be root do what you are trying to do. Sudo, makes you root for that operation.