New
#11
As far as I know, Catalyst Control Center is a video card supplemental application available for download from your ATI video card manufacturer (Sapphire, Asus, etc). It is not the driver. It is an add-on doo-dad. It provides some advanced functionality that I don't need, so I quit using it--3 or 4 years ago.
I don't know if it insinuates itself into services. I have no reason to believe it does, so I don't know if it can be defeated in Windows services.
If you are heavy duty into gaming, maybe it serves some purpose. I am not.
If you just blindly download and install the typical download packages available for ATI cards, you may well end up with Catalyst, even though you don't want it or need it.