Unexpected Internet Activity

My firewall shows that as soon as the program starts the program wishes to create connections etc. Perhaps there is good reason for this but I'd really prefer if:

1. It only established them on request.
2. It only did so on my command (scan for movies, rescrape thumbs etc)

At times I'd prefer my database to be concidered read only and don't wish connections to be made unless I'm at home. I haven't looked into bandwidth issues (yet) but certainly I and my friends have a small limit which we don't want to exceed, just thinking that perhaps this is the reason for the scrapping warning message on exit (unless I request it I don't want scrapping...).

Thanks,
Dennis