Ubuntu Installation :: Turned Off Automatic Updates Before Ever Connecting To The Internet?

Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala. Dial-up Internet connection. I turned off automatic updates before ever connecting to the Internet. When I checked for updates manually a few days ago, forty-some files downloaded. A few of them were quite large, perhaps a megabyte or two. Several of the files near the top of the list were marked as "Failed". There were no failures farther down the list.

After they were all downloaded, Update Manager tells me that 315 updates are available, under the two headings, "Important security updates" and "Recommended updates". The "Changes" box at the bottom of the window says that the list of changes failed to download. I ran the Update Manager again but it quickly told me (in effect) that there was nothing new since the previous check, and nothing more was downloaded. The descriptions of the updates are horribly inadequate. And I *am* looking at the long decriptions in the box at the bottom. For most updates the information is not adequate to determine what it does, whether it would have any effect on my particular system, or whether it would benefit me. For example, near the top of the list of 315 updates:

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