Ce n'est pas un Bonjour

This is really getting my goat. More and more I'm finding machines that have Apple's Bonjour (for Windows) service chatting away on the network unbeknownst to the system owners.

The Bonjour service "Enables hardware devices and software services to automatically configure themselves on the network and advertise their presence, so that users can discover and use those services without any unnecessary manual setup or administration.". Well, I don't want that and I object to not having been given the choice.

Even worse, forcibly removing this service can cause problems. On Windows XP the install adds a DLL to the LSP list and if this removed without correcting the list, all network access is lost. (It's good to have a copy of LSPfix downloaded beforehand.) Some good advice on how to remove the service safely can be found here.

Disabling the service in Windows is quick and fixes the problem in the short term, at least until I next dare to install something that may well re-enable it.

But where is it coming from? On my usual work machine I run a local firewall and process checker that catches the installation of Bonjour during the iTunes setup. However, blocking the Bonjour installation causes the whole iTunes installation to roll back so I am forced to accept. A brief Google reveals Adobe CS3 also installs the service, not even an Apple Inc. product, and I seem to remember that the Apple AirPort management utility did the same thing.

I don't need or want to have this service running on my machines. In the immortal words of Mr. Angry (from Purley): "it makes me so angry... I could throw the phone down!". Or even worse - arrggghhhhh!!!!!