I do not know how to install new programs

I am using the newest release of Kubuntu. It runs really fast, and smoothly. But as most people, I am used to a Microsoft Windows environment. I do not know the physics, and what I have to do to install new programs. I do not know what the executable files are. Everything comes in archive files. I followed the instructions on how to install Firefox, for example, from the website(I had to search elsewhere to actually get to their instructions page, and even then, all it says is to extract, and it doesn't even tell me how to run it). I have been at this all day today, trying to figure this out. Please put any instructions in laymen's terms, easy enough for a Linux newbie to understand. It's frustrating when I have been led to believe that Linux is very easy to use, when it really is not, unless you already know what to do.

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