The Update Nag Screen
Ubuntu is designed to be a highly secure and up-to-date operating system. To achieve this, a background service periodically checks the remote repositories for new package versions. When updates are found, Ubuntu launches the GUI “Software Updater” tool, which rudely pops up a large dialogue box in the centre of your screen informing you of the pending changes. If you are deeply focused on writing code, watching a movie, or giving a presentation, having a massive window suddenly steal your focus to demand you install a minor security patch is incredibly frustrating.
Moving Updates to the Background
To stop the GUI popups, you must instruct Ubuntu to stop checking for updates automatically, allowing you to manually pull updates via the terminal (using apt) at a time that is convenient for you.
Open your application drawer and search for Software & Updates. Launch the application. Click on the Updates tab at the top of the window. Locate the dropdown menu labelled Automatically check for updates. By default, it is usually set to “Daily.” Click the dropdown and change this setting to Never. Next, look slightly below that to the “When there are other updates” dropdown and ensure it is set to Display immediately (this seems counterintuitive, but it prevents the background daemon from stacking notifications when the main check is disabled). You will be prompted to enter your administrator password to confirm these changes. The Software Updater will now remain completely silent, never interrupting your workflow again.