I never receive intrusive notifications from VSCode. It quickly and silently updates every once in a while when I close the program. I'm not sure what kinds of malicious extensions you must've had installed.
What about the “What’s new tab” that opens right when you want to have some work done?
Or the notifications you get at the bottom-right corner suggesting to install extensions when you just want to see inside a file.
I mean, many people don’t care that much, it’s just a little annoyance to me, as little to not spent 5 mins to find a solution.
Edited for clarity