"Shareware is coming back, baby."
This is quite amusing. Further down:
"How do I prevent Ripcord from checking for updates before I'm able to open the preferences window to disable it?
As I recall, shareware never did that. It violates the spirit of leaving the user alone, user automonomy.
Shareware sometimes used to provide a way to check for updates, and sometimes allowed for this to be done automatically. But it generally did not try to make network connections without any permission from the user.
Shareware often used to provide contact information for the author so that users could show their appreciation. Authors invited voluntary feedback.
Today authors instead try to perform telemetry and control the use of the software after download through "automatic updates". They seek to gain from users' laziness to change defaults. They want to collect information about users and their usage habits. "Involuntary feedback."
Anyway, his answer is:
"Set the environment variable RIPCORD_ALLOW_UPDATES=0"
How about starting the program while offline, i.e., network interface down.