./configure not working
 

First:

tar xvzf foo.tar.gz

Then:

cf foo

Then:

./configure

But ./configure gives me a bash error. What do I do?

First question: what error does bash give you?
Second question: did you look into the tar.gz (use ark or karchiver) to see if there is a configure script? Not all tarballs have them.
There should be a README or INSTALL text file you should read to get the installation instructions.

bash: ./configure: No such file or directory

And I did not find a README or INSTALL text file in the extracted folder.

So what do I do now?

Sounds like you are not in the directory foo. The change directory command is prolly cd not cf.

Or the program, or whatever it is, probably only needs a make, or maybe it's already compiled. (like firefox) Plz reply back with the info on whats inside of the folder. It's not hard. You dont even need to use the command to untarball it, just double click on it in a file browser, then reply back with whatever is in the file. Then we will see if it is even a compilable program.

The extracted folder is called firefox-installer and inside contains:

xpi (folder)
config.ini
firefox-installer
firefox-installer-bin
header.xpm
install.ini
license.txt
watermark.xpm

Ok, no probem now ;-)
Just type:
./firefox-installer (if you are in console)
or click on it (in X).

Installation will begin instantly :-)

Note: You need to type ./firefox-installer after You CD in that directory.

I believe it installed. Thanks.

But cannot find the shortcut anywhere in the menu.

It's becouse You have installed it not from some mandrake package...
You can run it from directory where You installed it, so if the directory is for example /home/firefox, try tu run (in console)
/home/firefox/firefox

Enjoy.