Last year Larry Osterman, Microsoft "Veteran" who started working there in 1984, had a series of blog entries about craplets, small, helper I just stumbled about one of these craplets again. I installed Google Earth. After the setup finished I not only had the application on my system, but additional a service running called Google Updater Service plus a new program in my startup group called Google Updater.

I really hate it to get these additional "goodies". They're one of the main reasons why Windows seem to get slower over time. There are much, much better options for software to check for updates regularly. If you involved in developing software please read Larry's blog posts, especially the one about best practices.

Fortunately the updater could be removed via Programs and Features in Windows Vista's control panel.