Linux forum: Recently installed Ubuntu, some issues.

Hello,

I have recently installed Ubuntu ( the latest version, I guess ) ... But it seems like it's complicating my life, I mean, some tasks are harder to get to do.

However, I am still not really understanding how does those .tar.gz files or archives (Whatever that is) work.

For instance, I have downloaded a utility program that lets me create custom Keyboard layouts. (I'd like to do so to assign some French symbols, I wouldn't like to use the copy paste method and I have no Numeric pad on my laptop ) This utility is supposed to make it easier than creating a Keyboard layout using Terminal, as I've seen in some tutorials.

Here's the link to the program if needed.

All I get is some archive with files in it, I've read the Readme text, but I can't really understand anything.

I'd like to get some easy steps to get through that, how can I run the program ?!
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The second issue is about the boot screen, it's showing up in some weird way, it's all black with some purple lines, I can't really explain how it's like, but I can't get to understand how is that happening.

I have an nVidia ION LE for the display, I don't know if the issue's coming from it, I didn't download (nor install) its drivers yet, but I'll keep it up to see if a solution is available before I install the drivers, if not I will mention additional information later.
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Lastly, I'd like to get informed about important things to do on Ubuntu... If needed, which AV should I choose ? How can I improve the system performance with some software like TuneUp which is for Windows ?

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Hope I get some answers soon, thanks in advance.
Adnan.