(1) If you want longest support with no updates, get an LTS version instead of a normal version. For example, 22.04 LTS (the latest LTS release) is supported through the end of 2026, so if you don't want to have to update often, LTS is better. (2) That said, once an LTS release is over, you really should upgrade. (3) Not sure exactly what Ubuntu does, but in Debian (Ubuntu is based off Debian), it will only update when you tell it to. But for security reasons, you should upgrade regularly.

@cocomac I understand the security reason but I like to make my research BEFORE install something. Sometimes updates has regressions and/or make a bigger issue than the one is trying to solve. W10 is specialist in this. They release an update and then an update to solve the issues that the previous update created. I have a Retail Windows but I feel like I'm in the Beta tester channel.

Do you mean like when the entire system is EOL like Windows XP or are you talking about regular system updates. If regular system updates, the answer is below. If you're talking about EOL like windows XP, you should choose the latest LTS version of Ubuntu to get the longest support. LTS releases are supported for 5 years. However, for what you describe in your comment, my answer is below.

@mchid When the LTS last support day comes I must install and start from scratch or there's any way to keep my configuration and programs? When I change the OS I need like 3 months to set everything has I need. and after some time I forgot how I did some things and need to make all the research again. Is annoying frustrating and a waste of time.

@E_Blue You can do an OS update to a new version of Ubutnu without a complete reinstall. However, as nmath mentions in their answer, you need to keep the system up to date daily for this to work smoothly. The command to upgrade to a new OS version is sudo do-release-upgrade but you won't need to do that for 5 years unless you want to upgrade in 2024.

Please edit your question and clarify what you mean by updates. Windows provides monthly updates that supposedly fixes bugs etc. They also have six monthly updates that may have new features. These are called 22H1, 22H2 etc. Finally Windows have updates from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Ubuntu updates don't have all these equivalents. So let's be clear what kind of updates you are talking about.

@user68186 I'm talking about the first 2, and I don't know what's difference between them. Getting a new OS is not an update for me, is just a new OS.

Ubuntu does not care if you update or not. It is all on you to keep your system updated and safe.Can set for daily, weekly, or none. Most of the dailies only take about a minute as you are working, and if a restart is asked for, it only happens when you want it, now, next week, next month. Most restarts will happen before you can get up for a cup of coffee. None of this business of waiting for installation when shutting down, and again when starting up, it's off then on again.

The question has several common false assumptions that Windows power-users make when they try to apply their experience to Ubuntu. You will like some elements of Ubuntu, and you will dislike others. If you embrace the differences, you will be fine. If you expect Ubuntu to work like a drop-in Windows replacement, you won't be fine. Try Ubuntu if you want to try Ubuntu.

@user535733 I use my PC to work and, as I stated before to another user, I need a lot of time to set the OS and apps as I need, so, I'm not going to get in something that I don't understand how it works. I don't want to get in and then realize that is not what I think, that's why I'm here, to solve doubts.

@user68186 Ubuntu does have all those equivalents? With a blurryness on the 10->11 equivalent.

Are you 100% certain that Ubuntu has equivalents for ALL the apps you use? If you use Microsoft Office then you will either have to run it under Wine, use the web based versions, or switch to one of the (non-Microsoft) alternatives. If you game, then you'll need to check that they are supported under Linux. Your question sounds like you think that Ubuntu/Linux is a drop in replacement for Windows, which it absolutely isn't.

@Tim See my answer below. There is no bi-annual "Feature Updates" for Ubuntu, but every 6 months we get a new version which you may ignore if you stay on LTS.

@Neil I don't use Microsoft Office, I use Open Office since a decade ago or more. There's only 2 apps that I Linux doesn't support, and old Orcad version and Visual NET. For Orcad I already have a VM in VirtualBox because is 16bit App and don't run on Windows x64 OS. For Net I think I'm going to install it in the same VM.

@user68186 to the end user, Ubuntu and Windows have essentially the same release cycle. Just because Windows calls it 22H1 and Ubuntu calls it 22.04 doesn’t actually make a difference. For both you have to explicitly upgrade 🤷‍♂️

@E_Blue Please consider accepting one of the answers below as the accepted solution by clicking on the gray check mark ✔ next to the answer of your choice and turning it green ✅. This will mark the problem as solved and help others.

If your goal is to avoid the EOS upgrade windows, then you could take a look at the various "rolling release" distros. For these, rather than taking essentially a snapshot of all the programs and libraries that make up the system and applying only necessary fixes for some period of time before upgrading everything all at once, a "rolling" distro does updates for everything a few at a time. The upside is that you don't need to worry about EOS dates and having to reinstall your system. The downside is that you have to be more vigilant with any code you write yourself to keep it compatible.

@cocomac there are scenarios where it doesn't make sense, like a computer in a network detached from the Internet. The beauty of Unix-like systems is that you can completely disregard the opinion of the system developers and use the system in the exact way you prefer. Doesn't matter if the entire community thinks otherwise!

@JonathanReez My boss has two servers with CentOS 6.3 running from 2011 or so, with no issues. We are afraid to update it, the servers has no backup server, they work by them self. The bigger one took like 10 minutes to boot.

I don't think it's worth a full answer, but I think it is worth mentioning the way that I maintain a critical live-media machine that runs on Ubuntu: Disabled all of the automatic updates - plumb easy, unlike Windoze which requires some trickery - AND THEN replaced the graphical shutdown command with a script that runs the command-line updater and then shuts down. The reasoning for this specific system is that it's just been told that it's no longer needed, and so this is the best time to do maintenance, instead of mid-show. It also gives the most time to test, for those that are paranoid.

For a different Debian-derivative (Raspberry Pi; Ubuntu will do this too) that happens to be on 24/7 unattended, I just have a weekly job for when it's idle anyway, that updates and reboots. I don't even have to think about that one anymore.