[PreInternet01]

> I've yet to come across a service that can't be disabled with the 'sc' command line utility

Well, meet WinHttpAutoProxySvc...

    > sc config WinHttpAutoProxySvc start=disabled
    [SC] OpenService FAILED 5: Access is denied.

And yes, before you dial the condescension up to 11 again, I'm aware of the need to do this from an elevated command prompt, as demonstrated by the fact that it works fine for other services, e.g. Windows Update:

    > sc config wuauserv start=disabled
    [SC] ChangeServiceConfig SUCCESS

(And, for the record, I was not complaining about anything, merely pointing out my environmentally specific experiences with the topic of an article, IMHO also clearly pointing out that my choice of solution is a gross hack and that I should look more closely into the issue one of these days when my copious spare time allows...)