Which 90% of the time makes sense because if you want anything more than the barebones default config (which you usually do), that's best done before everything

Which 90% of the time makes sense because if you want anything more than the barebones default config (which you usually do), that's best done before everything gets spun up. But I've worked with Ubuntu (and Debian) long enough that I now take for granted that some services are going to have to be downed for reconfig almost immediately after installation. The "auto start after install" practice rarely makes much difference in the final result. After over 25 years as a sysadmin I do wonder how non-experts navigate some of this stuff, what with the often incomplete doc and horribly uninformed (or just plain reckless) forum posts they have to work with. The best place to start is still æLeen Frisch's Essential System Administration (whose 1st ed is where I learned the sysadmin craft), but there really isn't much beyond it (unless you go the BSD route and so have the FreeBSD Handbook to lean on).