>>>
>>>Thanks, I've never felt comfortable that the WMI will always be available. I may be wrong, but it can be disabled, can't it?
>>
>>Yes. But... https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa826517(v=vs.85).aspx
>
>Yes, but I do not want to start something on a client's PC that their IT people have disabled, even if it's only temporarily.

Considering that (keep in mind that this is how the Operating System works, it's nothing specific of your application)

WMI runs automatically at system startup under the LocalSystem account. If WMI is not running, it automatically starts when the first management application or script requests connection to a WMI namespace

it's kind of tilt at windmills to expect to have WMI services quiet down during current system operations (that is, the scenario in which a desktop application normally runs).