Ubuntu doesn’t come, by default, with enabling additional repositories. Before updating and upgrading your Ubuntu system must allow the additional canonical repositories.

• To do so, search for Software & Update.
• In the Other Software tab, enable “Canonical Partners.”
• Now close the window, ignore if it says reload.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

sudo apt dist-upgrade

Enable proprietary drivers. To install and see the availability of the proprietary drivers for your hardware,

• To do so, search for Software & Update.
• Select the Additional Drivers tab.
• Select one of the proprietary drivers that seems to be specific to your graphics card.

Install the Gnome Tweak Tool.

GNOME Tweak Tool, the settings manager for GNOME lets you customize the Ubuntu desktop according to your liking.

With the GNOME Tweak tool you can accomplish the following:

• Change the look and feel of the Ubuntu Desktop Environment.
• Change the default fonts.
• Play with the Window buttons.
• Effectively manage all GNOME extensions.
• Enable/Disable desktop icons.

sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool

Gnome Shell Extensions is the best tool to customize your Linux.

Run the gnome-tweak-tool and tweak as needed.

Gnome Shell Extensions is the best tool to customize your Linux.

Run the gnome-tweak-tool and tweak as needed.

By default, Ubuntu does not provide any media codec to play multimedia files. So to enjoy movies, music, and entertaining application, you need to install media codecs. Use the following code into Terminal.

To be able to play media files like MP#, MPEG4, AVI etc., run:

sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Recommend to install the free version of libavcodec also to avoid an issue while performing media task with video editors or transcoder. Use the following code.

sudo apt install libavcodec-extra

Moreover, to enable encrypted DVD playback, you have to install libdvd-pkg.

sudo apt install libdvd-pkg

According to recent studys, the blue light emanating from your PC or Laptop may cause considerable amount of eye strain. Hence, you can turn on the Night light feature that will automatically adjust the blue light.

Go to menu:

Settings > Devices > Displays and toggle the Night Light on.

• VLC – media player for videos
• GIMP – Photoshop alternative for Linux
• Pinta – Paint alternative in Linux
• Calibre – eBook management tool
• Chromium – Open Source web browser
• Kazam – Screen recorder tool
• Gdebi – Lightweight package installer for .deb packages
• Spotify – For streaming music
• Skype – For video messaging
• Kdenlive – Video editor for Linux
• Atom – Code editor for programming
• Android Studio – For Android app development

Here are some tips, which help to get optimum output from Ubuntu Linux OS…

• Turn off WiFi and Bluetooth, when it’s not required.
• Reduced screen brightness to the optimum level.
• It’s always better to hibernate rather than suspend power features. To do so follow…Settings »Power Management »On Battery Power
• Try to disable keyboard brightness

Apart from these tips, you can follow to install TLP, which helps to keep the laptop cool and safe.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp
sudo apt update
sudo apt install tlp tlp-rdw
sudo tlp start

You can also Install Laptop Mode Tools, which helps to reduce power consumption by slowing down Hard disk speed and kernel control. To install it run the following command.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps
sudo apt update
sudo apt install laptop-mode-tools

After installing, get the GUI for further customization. Run the command.

gksu lmt-config-gui

Ubuntu has a firewall called UFW which is pretty good and straightforward. But you need to enable it first. You can either enable it through command or install a GUI for UFW.

To enable the firewall to execute:

sudo ufw enable

UFW is quite intuitive to use. To disable firewall execute:

sudo ufw disable

Managing UFW via GUI

sudo apt install gufw

You can clean partial packages using a command:

sudo apt autoclean

You can auto cleanup apt-cache:

sudo apt clean

You can clean up of any unused dependencies:

sudo apt autoremove