Once you’ve installed Ubuntu, you will want to make sure that it is up to date. Software patches close potential security holes in your software, and provide new features. In fact, after you’ve installed Ubuntu, the Update Manager application will run automatically for the first time.
To turn the Update Manager yourself, follow this steps.
First click on the Dash, which is the Ubuntu button in the upper-right hand corner of the screen.
Be sure to remember the location of the Dash, since it is one of the key ways for you to control your Ubuntu system. For now, however, click on the Dash, and type “update” in the search box that appears.
The first hit will be the Update Manager application. Click on the Update Manager’s icon to start the application. Update Manager will then launch, and immediately contact the Ubuntu repositories (in Linux, a “repository” is an online storage space for applications) for updates.
Update Manager will display a list of the available updates, and the combined size of all the updates. (On a new Ubuntu installation, this can often run in the hundreds of megabytes.) If you click on an individual update, and then click the triangle next to “Description of update”, you can see more detailed information about an individual update. Clicking on the Settings button will let you change Update Manager’s settings. By default, Update Manager checks for updates daily, and informs you when new updates are available to install.
Once you are ready to install updates, click on the Install Updates button to continue.
Update Manager will then ask for your password. This is a common event on Ubuntu – if you want to do something that will change the system, like installing a new program or updates, it will ask for the password of an administrative account. Since the account you created during the installation process is an administrative account, go ahead and enter that password, and then hit the Authenticate button.
Update Manager will download and install the available updates. Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, this might take some time, so be patient.
Once Update Manager is finished, you will have to restart your computer. Click on the Restart button to reboot your system, and once Ubuntu comes back up, your computer will be fully up to date.
-JM