The issues of the thread appear to be solved as best as can be hoped for. Apparently like Rick Stevens in another thread, I don't like automatic updates or automatic checks for updates. Now, I'm no longer being asked for a go-ahead to update things. So as best as I can determine, no automatic updates and checks for updates are happening.
Consider this thread in a "beta" state for a few days to make sure there are no problems. You know how software works: everything works great in formal testing, but then use the workstation normally (operationally), and f-w-o-o-o-m! (Do I hear a bunch of list members snickering?!) If there are no problems after a few days, I'll promote this thread to SOLVED. (I will keep watching for further posts.)