I have tried repeatedly to use different windows based programs on my linux. I love the Linux apps, but (e.g.) I just bought a seagate external hard drive only to find out that it's windows too. The only app I've found to load the .exe files is called "Wine", but I may be misunderstanding its' function or how to use it. Because it does NOTHING. There is no response at all from it. I am so frustrated! Does anyone out there know what I could do? I would very much appreciate any help with this. Be blessed...

You shouldn't need the Windows app to access the external Seagate drive. You just need to mount it.

Try going to /home/user/.wine/drive_c/Program Files to see if the programs have been installed there. If so, you may find an exec file that you can run there.

The external drive should work automatically. Click on the Computer icon on your desktop and it should be listed. What you do next depends on how you are going to use it: keep Windows format or replace by ext3; use for part of your filing system or for backups; etc. Like may things, it also depends on your distribution, so it's a good idea to add that to your profile.

As for Wine, programs should live in ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files, so I have (for example)
~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Berthier/Berthier.exe
To run that, I've made an entry in the menu that uses the command (note the Windows path delimiters)
wine "c:\Program Files\Berthier\Berthier.exe"

To install a Windows program, put the installation file (say setup.exe) in Program Files and use
wine "c:\Program Files\setup.exe"

Most people don't relize that you have to type winecfg at the terminal before the first run.

I've never had to run it before being able to make the first run of wine before.
It's only if you need to set up odd options, I've had to.

You have to right click on the .exe and hit Open With Other Application, and choose the WINE Program Loader or whatever. If your just trying to click on the icon and hope it installs, it won't, you have tell Linux to use WINE. The reason it doesn't work is because Linux does not and can not know what that file is, how to read it, much less use it. Basically, Linux is telling you, "WTF am I supposed to do with this?!"