I'm relatively new to Linux (coming from Windows) and one thing that always bugs me is how restrictive the system is. For example I'm trying to install Sublime Text 2 into /opt/ right now, but when I open the tar archive and try to extract the folder, I get the following error:
You don't have the right permissions to extract archives in the folder "file:///opt"
In Windows or Mac I usually would have some sort of option "As Administrator..", which would elevate the privileges instantly (possibly prompting a password) and then perform the operation.
With Linux I seem to be stuck to somehow figure out the Archive Manager's exact name and then run it with sudo from the terminal. In the menu there isn't even a right-click "Run as root.." option or anything similar.
Isn't there an easier way of handling this in general?
I'm running Xubuntu with XFCE but I had this problem with every desktop distribution I tried so far.
You might also want to take a look at this thread which explains how you can add a right-click sudo style script How can I add a script to nautilus for running selected file as administrator?