Dapper Flight 3: update-notifier insists on restart

[Raymond Lillard]

I have limited experience with Ubuntu and no experience with Debian,
but a decade of experience with Linux -- mostly Redhat and Gentoo.

A client asked me to look into Ubuntu as a desktop so I loaded the
latest test release I could find which seems to be as above.

I have loaded it on a spare disk for my Dell D810 laptop.  The
basic installation went smoothly enough.  After I was done with
the first batch of updates I restarted the system.  Since then
"update-notifier" process tells me that a "Restart is Required"
each time I start the system.  The icon shows the recycle arrows.
I am assuming this is due to some discombobulation lingering from
the initial update and not a problem with the notifier itself.

I have restarted the system many times, for this, and many other
unrelated reasons.  I have installed quite a few applications
with "Synaptic Package Manager" and as well as from tarballs.
Save this little annoyance, the system seems to be operating
flawlessly.

There is no manpage for the notifier that I can find, so does
anybody know what the "update-notifier" is looking for and how
can I repair this.  I can download the sources and tear into
this if need be, but I'm hoping someone can save me the time
and trouble.

Thanks for your time.

Regards,
Ray

PS  I'm rather impressed at the polish of Ubuntu.  I've been
     wondering what all the fuss was about.