Ubuntu: Unity Hints Tweaks and Tips

Where you see the following above a command this is to tell you to open a terminal:

terminal:~$

Automounting USB Drives - Diasble: How To
By default any external USB drive when plugged in will be automatically mounted, to disable this behaviour run 'dconf-editor' locate the following key:

org.gnome.desktop.media-handling

Untick the box for 'automount' and 'automount open'

Autorun Media - Disable: How To
By default items such as optical media will autorun when placed in a drive, to disable this behaviour open 'dconf-editor'

Desktop Switcher: How To Remove Icon From Launcher
This works for those who only require one workspace, if you want multiple workspaces but no icon this is not the fix for you.

Install compiz:

terminal:~$ sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

In the Unity Launcher search for compiz and launch the manager application.

Under 'Category' click 'General' then 'General Options' click the 'Desktop Size' tab, then move all the available sliders to '1'.

Logging out then in should remove the icon from the launcher, if not reboot.

Cribbed here.

Global Menu: How To Disable
In a terminal:

terminal:~$ sudo apt-get remove appmenu-gtk3 appmenu-gtk appmenu-qt sudo reboot

 NOTE: 

There are things you should do however before disabling the Global Menu Support (GMS). Most programmes will revert to individual menus however there are exceptions and if these are not sorted before you remove GMS you will be left without the buttons to close/minimise/maximise:

 Firefox:  You need to disable the add-on/extension for Global Menu Support before remove un-installing the items above.

 LibreOffice:  In a terminal:

terminal:~$ sudo apt-get install lo-meunubar

NFS Automounted Home LightDM Broken Login: How To Fix
terminal:~$ sudo apt-get install gdm

Choose gdm instead of lightdm, then reboot. If it does not ask you first time (or if you want to change it back to lightdm), run

terminal:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm

Software Sources: How To Add
Software Sources can be accessed via the launcher, the Ubuntu Software Centre or of course via the terminal.

Reset Unity To Default Settings: How To
If after tweaking Unity maybe through using tools such as Compiz or Ubuntu Tweak you find you are having problems or something no longer works Unity can be rest:

terminal:~$ unity --reset

Synaptic Package Manager
By default Synaptic Package Manager is not installed, in a terminal:

terminal:~$ sudo apt-get install synaptic