Synaptic is an advanced package management application that can install and remove every package available to your system. The interface is graphical like Add/Remove Applications, but presents much more information and gives you complete control over the software on your computer.

To launch Synaptic, press System → Administration → Synaptic Package Manager. You need administrative access to use Synaptic; see Administrative Tasks for more details.

If you know the name of the package you want to install or remove, click the Search button, and enter the package name or a short search term. You can also search for packages by description (for example, you can find all packages mentioning “arcade” or “mathematics”).

Use the categories on the left to filter the list of packages. To return to the list of categories after doing a search, click Sections.

To install a package, click the box next to it and choose Mark for installation. If you change your mind, choose Unmark.

To remove a package that is already installed, choose Mark for Removal.

When you have finished, click Apply and Ubuntu will make the changes you selected. If you do not want to make any changes, close the window instead.

If you are comfortable using the Terminal, you can use apt (Advanced Packaging Tool) to install or remove software. You need administrative access to use apt; see Administrative Tasks for more details.

To update the local list of packages, enter in a Terminal:

sudo apt-get update

To install all available updates:

sudo apt-get upgrade

To search for a package:

apt-cache search package

To install a package:

sudo apt-get install package

To remove a package:

sudo apt-get remove package

To list other apt commands and options:

apt-get help

For more information, see the Debian apt manual and the apt-get manual.