HT1338 How do I schedule update downloads to happen in the wee hours?

Question

I am on a satalite internet connection, and i need to control when my computer does it downloads so it happens between 2 and 6 AM. How?

Answer 1

Your computer needs to be awake during that time.  If your machine is not awake all night then you'll need to schedule a wake up in the energy saver panel of system preferences. 
if your machine is awake, you can run a manual update with the following unix command:
sudo softwareupdate --install --all
It needs to be run as root, so the simplest way to do it is with a launchd job.  Save the following text as a plain text file in /Library/LaunchDaemons/user.software_update.auto.plist, and restart your machine:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
          <key>Label</key>
          <string>user.software_update.auto</string>
          <key>ProgramArguments</key>
          <array>
                    <string>softwareupdate</string>
                    <string>--install</string>
                    <string>--all</string>
          </array>
          <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
          <dict>
                    <key>Weekday</key>
                    <integer>0</integer>
                    <key>Hour</key>
                    <integer>3</integer>
                    <key>Minute</key>
                    <integer>0</integer>
          </dict>
</dict>
</plist>
This should install updates automatically at 3am on Sunday if the computer is awake (or at next wake if the computer is asleep).