diff --git a/package-managers/apt-conf-00notify-hook b/package-managers/apt-conf-00notify-hook
index adc34af8a..b4ef13215 100644
--- a/package-managers/apt-conf-00notify-hook
+++ b/package-managers/apt-conf-00notify-hook
@@ -1 +1 @@
-DPkg::Post-Invoke {"/usr/lib/qubes/upgrades-status-notify || true";};
+DPkg::Post-Invoke {"/usr/lib/qubes/upgrades-status-notify skip-refresh || true";};
diff --git a/package-managers/upgrades-installed-check b/package-managers/upgrades-installed-check
index aaf18ccc4..b9b80a576 100755
--- a/package-managers/upgrades-installed-check
+++ b/package-managers/upgrades-installed-check
@@ -5,8 +5,16 @@
 ## * 'false' - if there are pending upgrades
 ## * nothing - if apt-get is currently locked
 ##
+## optional argument "skip-refresh" can be used to not refresh metadata (useful
+## when it's already up to date, like after installing updates)
+##
 ## Forwards the exit code of the package manager.
 
+skip_refresh=false
+if [ "$1" = "skip-refresh" ]; then
+    skip_refresh=true
+fi
+
 if [ -e /etc/system-release ]; then
     ## Fedora
     if command -v dnf >/dev/null; then
@@ -23,12 +31,15 @@ elif [ -e /etc/debian_version ]; then
     ## Debian
     set -e
     set -o pipefail
-    # shellcheck disable=SC2034
-    apt_get_update_output="$(apt-get -q update 2>&1)"
+    if ! $skip_refresh; then
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2034
+        apt_get_update_output="$(apt-get -q update 2>&1 | tee /proc/self/fd/2)"
+    fi
     apt_get_upgrade_output="$(LANG="C" apt-get -s upgrade 2>&1)"
     exit_code="$?"
     # shellcheck disable=SC2266
     echo "$apt_get_upgrade_output" | awk "/^Inst/{ print $2 }" | [ "$(wc -L)" -eq 0 ] && echo "true" || echo "false"
+    echo "$apt_get_upgrade_output" >&2
 elif [ -e /etc/arch-release ]; then
     ## Archlinux
     checkupdates >/dev/null 2>&1
diff --git a/package-managers/upgrades-status-notify b/package-managers/upgrades-status-notify
index 791ae2706..7a6e848bf 100755
--- a/package-managers/upgrades-status-notify
+++ b/package-managers/upgrades-status-notify
@@ -14,7 +14,12 @@ else
     fi
 fi
 
-upgrades_installed="$(/usr/lib/qubes/upgrades-installed-check)"
+script_arg=
+if [ "$1" = "skip-refresh" ]; then
+    script_arg=skip-refresh
+fi
+
+upgrades_installed="$(/usr/lib/qubes/upgrades-installed-check $script_arg)"
 
 if [ "$upgrades_installed" = "true" ]; then
     /usr/lib/qubes/qrexec-client-vm dom0 qubes.NotifyUpdates /bin/sh -c 'echo 0'