I'm glad that this system does not get viruses and I am happy with it but UPDATING my browser or INSTALLING adobe flash has been IMPOSSIBLE!
I've been using Linux Mint for 3 years now. I'm happy with the program but in the past if I needed to update my browser I would click UPDATE / RUN / then MAYBE REBOOT!
After spending about 100 hours trying to figure this out, the best I can gather is that I have to run programs in some kind of DOS like terminal, extract files from the unload, copy and paste them into some kind of terminal command, ALL of which I have been unable to do, and I'm pretty good on computers! I build websites and I'm familiar with HTML but THIS is what Linux considers a user friendly system? REALLY? I cant even find someone to PAY to help me! Is there a Linux company somewhere? The closest I can find is a lab at a university 300 miles away!
CALLING THIS SYSTEM USER FRIENDLY IS LIKE CALLING HITLER SENSITIVE!
What kind of hoops do I have to jump through to simply update my browser? I have to somehow know if how to find whether my system has these requirements? WHAT?
Firefox will not run at all without the following libraries or packages:
GTK+ 2.18 or higher
GLib 2.22 or higher
Pango 1.14 or higher
X.Org 1.0 or higher (1.7 or higher is recommended)
libstdc++ 4.3 or higher
For optimal functionality, we recommend the following libraries or packages:
NetworkManager 0.7 or higher
DBus 1.0 or higher
HAL 0.5.8 or higher
GNOME 2.16 or higher
And now the only customer support I can get is on some forum?
I cant even update my system without getting some kind of error message, and I cant find help ANYWHERE!
WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?
USER FRIENDLY? REALLY?
Firefox is on version 28 and I'm stuck using version 11!
How do the creators of this operating system expect people to somehow know how to do this? What's wrong with UPDATE / RUN / continue with whatever I was doing? I've wasted countless DOZENS of hours trying to download flash or update my browser and I've opened/ extracted files/ TRIED EVERYTHING AND NOTHING WORKS. worse still I CAN NOT GET HELP ANYWHERE! I posted once HERE on THIS forum and got NO HELP!
WHO CAN I PAY TO HELP ME UPDATE MY BROWSER?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????

This is the abosolute horrible way to ask help.

If you want to update firefox :
Download latest tar file of firefox for linux from here. Extract the file. The directory name will be firefox.
Open /usr/lib of your mint and find the directory name firefox. Rename it firefox_old.
Put the extracted directory in the /usr/lib. Open it and copy the file name firefox.
Open directory /usr/bin and rename the file firefox to firefox_old. Now paste the copied file here.

Now you can use latest firefox and to make it updated,
Open help > about firefox
If there will be any updates, it will be updated automatically.

Hi welcome to LQ,
First off I'd recommend wording your request for help a little more respectfully. Remember you're asking for help from volunteers expecting enterprise grade service when you haven't spent a dime.

Linux is not as complicated as you think and I doubt you put 100 hrs into attempting to figure out how to update packages. If you did then perhaps GNU/Linux is not the operating system for you. I'd hate for you to waste a terrible amount of time on something you don't get enjoyment from. Remember that time is a cost too (not just money). So perhaps a more mainstream OS which comes with support is more your cup of tea.

In the off chance you still wish to give Linux a second try here's some advice. Mint has package repositories. You shouldn't ever have to download software through your browser most of the time. You use a package manager which manages the software you have installed. You update your software using that same package manager. In Mint, the package manager is called synaptic.

http://community.linuxmint.com/software/view/synaptic

Hopefully, that helps point you in the right direction.

SAM

chances you never upgraded your install
and are using a old and out of date and unsupported version

if that is the case
you might have to install the current Mint 16
or
the current LONG TERM SUPPORT version
Mint 13 LTS ( this version is supported until 2017 )
http://www.linuxmint.com/oldreleases.php

if this is an old and unsupported version ( mint 12,11,10,9,8,7...)
you will be unable to update firefox using "apt-get"
because there are NO updates