Am I right in thinking one cannot disable the context-menu additions?

[AnythingToGetInC]

I hope I am not. For, the Windows context menu fills up with all sorts of other stuff anyway and I do not want VLC context items and I do not wish to have to hack the registry. Please advise. Thanks.

[Lotesdelere]

IMO the only way would be to edit the source code and to compile your own version.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

I think there's a choice in the installer to enable them or not.

[ediv22]

You may also use the no-need-to-install (portable) version of vlc. This version doesn`t create context menu items.
Go here:
videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html
and choose "Zip Package" from the list.
Unzip and just copy the whole folder structure to any place on your disk. Of course vlc will not appear on your start menu nor in the list of installed applications. You'll have to create your own shortcuts to 'vlc.exe' or double-click on it to make it run. And you can make it the default app for video files (look for info on how to do this on your version of windows).
To uninstall, simply remove the folder.