Software updater no longer functional

[Bret Busby]

On 20/01/2017, Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 20/01/2017, MR ZenWiz <mrzenwiz at gmail.com> wrote:
>> About a week ago I noticed that my indicator for the software updater
>> had turned into the "do not enter" road sign (a red circle with a
>> horizontal white line in it).
>>
>> If I click on it, it shows me the menu, but none of the menu items works.
>>
>> If I open the settings app and click on the software updater once, it
>> does nothing.  If I double click it, it says I have stopped previous
>> updates from functioning and shows them.  However, if I click on the
>> Install Now button, the updater small frame window comes up empty and
>> never shows anything.
>>
>> I posted about some of this a while back when it was getting errors
>> with the debconf library, but that was solved, or so I thought, by
>> using Synaptic to update that library.  It seems this was not a
>> complete fix.
>>
>> Any suggestions?
>>
>> Xubuntu 16.04.1 all the latest updates.
>>
>> Attached is a text file showing the output that comes up when I run
>> this from a terminal window.
>>
>> Thanks.
>> MR
>>
>
> I do not know whether it is part of your problem, but I have been
> getting this persistent malicious entry in the software updates -
> "Automatic software updater", which seems to be a trojan with the
> objective of turning the system into an unusable MS Windows - like
> brick - forever updating and rebooting, and, when a user actually gets
> a break in the paralysis, that allows the user to do something with
> the computer, once the user starts using the computer, away it goes
> again.
>
> How do I block this trojan, so that I do not inadvertently miss
> deselecting it in a required system update?
>
> I am using UbuntuMATE 16.04 (updated, except for the trojan).
>

Oh, and, with the MS Windows automated updating, all the MS Windows
computers have to be disconnected from the LAN, when not intentionally
in use, due to the incessant data transmission.

So, a way to block this "Automatic software updater", so that it does
not cripple the Linux systems, would be good.

-- 

Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia

..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
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 Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
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 written by Douglas Adams,
 published by Pan Books, 1992

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