Started up my elementaryOS laptop and I see a progress bar.

Is it installing updates? Is it running a disk check? No idea. Just a % to show me its progress towards whatever it is doing.

At 100% it says it finished "installing updates". Oh, okay, good to know that's what it was doing all along. Good to take the guesswork out of these things, you know?

Anyway, then I get to the login screen. I put in my password and hit enter. Now I'm at the desktop. No UI. Just the wallpaper and mouse cursor.