The Background Bandwidth
By default, Ubuntu is configured to ensure your system remains secure by constantly monitoring for new software patches. Several times a day, a background service automatically reaches out to the canonical repositories (using apt-get update) to check if any of your installed packages have new versions available. While crucial for security, this background checking process consumes network bandwidth. If you are using Ubuntu on a laptop tethered to a strict, metered mobile data connection, these automatic, hidden update checks can quickly eat through your monthly data cap, costing you money before you even realize it is happening.
Disabling Automatic Update Checks
To preserve your limited network bandwidth and stop Ubuntu from automatically checking for software updates in the background, you must configure the Software & Updates control panel.
Click the system menu in the top-right corner or press the Super (Windows) key and type Software & Updates. Launch the application with that exact name. Navigate to the Updates tab located at the top of the window. The first option you will see is a dropdown menu labelled Automatically check for updates. By default, this is set to “Daily.” Click this dropdown menu and change it to Never. You will likely be prompted to enter your administrator password to confirm this system-level change. Once applied, Ubuntu will never check for updates unless you manually open the Software Updater application or run the apt update command in your terminal.