Ubuntu 16.10 was recently released with some improvements. According to the
poll 53% conducted on LinuxAndUbuntu, 53% of users will upgrade to Ubuntu 16.10. But what to do next after you’ve upgraded to Yakkety Yak. In this article, I’ll walk you through the 10 Things to do after installing Ubuntu 16.10.
10 Things To Do After Installing Ubuntu 16.10
This article will help you configure your new Ubuntu. If you’ve any problem following this tutorial, please don’t hesitate to comment in the comment section below this post.
1. First Check Out What’s New In Ubuntu 16.10
2. Update Ubuntu 16.10
Update your system for the first time. It’ll install any bug fix that has been fixed since the release. To update your system either open graphical update manager from unity dash or type the following command in the terminal –
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
3. Setup Firewall security
As hackers are always trying to hack vulnerable systems through open ports. Install a firewall to protect your system from harmful incoming/outgoing connections. We have the most uncomplicated firewalll for Ubuntu named ‘UFW’. UFW is by default installed but not enabled. To enable UFW, type the following command in the terminal –
sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw status
Install GUI of UFW ‘GUFW’
4. Tweak Ubuntu 16.10
‘Show Menu in window’s title bar’ & ‘Set Menu visibility’
Our brand new distro needs some tweaks. I am happy that this time we have some of these tweaks in the universal settings manager. We don’t have to install Unity tweak tool at least to set menu visibility always in the window. To show menu in the window’s title bar, goto settings >> Appearance >> click ‘In the window’s title bar’
To set menu visible always, goto settings >> Appearance >> Always displayed
Move Unity Launcher To Bottom
An option is available in the Unity tweak tool to move the unity launcher in the bottom. For this Install Unity tweak tool –
sudo apt install unity-tweak-tool
I am still confused as to why Canonical does not provide options to tweak a couple of things in Ubuntu’s settings manager. We need to install Unity tweak tool to tweak the system. After installing Unity tweak tool, open it and goto Launcher >> Click left or bottom under appearance
Enable minimize the window on click
The next step is to enable minimize the window on click. It’ll allow you to minimise or maximise window on launcher icon click.
5. Install Web Browser
6. Install Media Codecs
Media codecs are very useful if play a lot of media. Your system will be able to play most media after installing Media codecs.
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
7. Email Client In Ubuntu 16.10
Email clients are very useful. It keeps you updated with your latest emails. There are so many email clients for Linux and Ubuntu comes with the most popular open source email client ‘Thunderbird’. But if you don’t want thunderbird, here are a couple of couple open source email clients that I have covered in my article, ‘
Top 4 Open Source Email Clients For Linux‘.
8. Setup Cloud Storage
Nowadays most major cloud services provide an official client for Linux (Except Gdrive and OneDrive :). You don’t have to worry if you love Gdrive, you can use Grive, an un-official Gdrive client. But you don’t have to use GDrive. There are many other cloud services that provide official Linux client. So check out our article on the 5 Google Drive alternatives cloud storage for Linux.
Dropbox an alternative to Google drive
9. Enhance Your Yakkety Yak
To enhance your new Ubuntu, install from hundreds of free themes for Ubuntu. We have a collection of themes in our Theme Section.
10. Install Graphics Driver
Most Linux distros come with open source drivers that support most modern devices. In Ubuntu 16.10, you’ve open source drives but if you want you can also use proprietary drivers.
