I’ve complained (and so have many others) about the Apple Software Update functionality — especially now that it suggests that I update software I never had installed (Safari)!

On Vista (and XP is probably similar), there’s a scheduled task that runs once a week to look for updates.

To stop that from occurring, click the start/windows logo button, and type "TASK" into the search box.

Select Task Scheduler. (You may need to provide an administrator password or just click continue acknowledging that you’re about to make system changes).

Expand the Task Scheduler library node and then click the Apple node.

You should see on the right side an entry named, AppleSoftwareUpdate.

Click that entry and either right click and select Disable, or click the item and select the Disable option in the Action list on the right side of the Task Scheduler.

Although XP’s task scheduler has a very different user interface, the concept is identical, and you should be able to find and disable the AppleSoftwareUpdater in a similar manner.

Here’s hoping that this stops the annoying "Install Safari" now option.

Note that you should occasionally check for updates manually in ITunes if you disable this functionality. It’s available in the Help menu (Check for Updates).

QuickTime checks for updates (according to the documentation and settings), only when the application is running (brilliant!).

Or, if you’re not comfortable with completely disabling the auto update feature, you can change the frequency of update checks using the task scheduler. Instead of disabling the task as shown above, decrease it’s frequency. Don’t disable it as suggested above, instead, right click on the AppleSoftwareUpate line, and select properties.

Click the Triggers Tab, then select the first trigger (in my example, it’s labeled Weekly) and click the Edit button:

This shows the details of the weekly trigger. In the screen shot above, I’ve changed it from weekly to once a month (on the last day). I’d recommend you leave the advanced settings as is and just modify the frequency to whatever you’d like. Once a month is reasonable — then you’ll only be annoyed by this update once a month rather than once a week.

If you’re paranoid about security, you’ll probably just need to accept the fact that Apple’s update for this is obnoxious and maybe if enough people complain — Apple will realize the error of their ways and provide a way to ignore new Apple Software that you don’t want to install.