Since the last few releases Ubuntu has been using Ubuntu Software Centre (USC) as the default package installer for all .deb files replacing the older gdebi package installer. This means that if you double click on a packaged file like Skype for Linux, USC opens up trying to install the file.
Although it is a noble idea to reduce redundant packages from the default installation of Ubuntu, USC is very slow and takes a lot of time to start up and install the packaged applications. Compared to that, gdebi is a very lightweight package installer. Installing packaged applications using gdebi reduces the overall installation time by almost half.
So, if you want to install the gdebi package installer
1. Head over to USC, search for gdebi and click install.
For command line, use sudo apt-get install gdebi in an open terminal
2. Find any .deb file and right click on it and select properties.
3. Head over to the third tab labelled “Open With”.
4. Select Gdebi Package installer and click “Set as default”.
That’s it. Now, double clicking a .deb package will fire up the gdebi installer instead of USC.
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