How do I install amplitube/3rd party plug ins

Hi everyone…Really sorry if this is a stupid question but I’m totally new to all this and getting very very frustrated. I’ve recently installed essentials 5 which came with my Ci12+ . All was working fine until I tried installing the free amplitube 3 plug in. I tried to be “clever” when I installed and saved it in the vst plug ins folder in Cubase itself. I also did the same with Sample Tank free. This completely messed up all my inputs and outputs that the Ci12+ had very kindly set up for me and to cut a long story short, I uninstalled amplitube and sample tank and now everything works fine again!

So, can anyone give me a step by step total complete idiots giude to installing these 2 things or indeed any other 3rd party plug ins? And then, how do I get them to work in cubase? Thanks in advance

I don’t own Essential, but I think it works the same.

Install the plugins in a VST directory (Usually c:\Program Files\Steinberg\VSTPlugins)
Point Cubase “VST 2.x Plug-in Paths” to that directory, if it isn’t present yet.
You can do this within Cubase → Devices → Plug-In Information → VST 2.x Plug-in Paths → Add