turning off VC?

[Steve Summit]

Sometimes, when I edit a file which happens to have a
corresponding ,v file under the RCS subdirectory, I get a
"*vc-info*" window popping up listing error messages explaining
why VC "Couldn't find version control information".  At one
level, the error messages are perfectly understandable: I use
an extended version of RCS which is, alas, evidently not 100%
compatible with the standard RCS utilities in /usr/bin/.
(Mine uses some extensions which are unrecognized by the standard
version, and it also fails to use a certain extension -- the
`branches' keyword -- which is unaccountably required by the
standard version.)

At another level, though, the fact that these errors are
occurring is rather perplexing, although at the same time I'm
almost glad of them, because there's a certain implication that
if it weren't for the errors, emacs would be able to, and would,
automatically check files in to or out of RCS for me, which I
certainly wouldn't want it to do.

At any rate, the error messages are distracting and a real
nuisance.  Is there any way to tell emacs *not* to look for RCS
subdirectories and corresponding ,v files, and *not* to attempt
to invoke any RCS commands automatically?

This is for emacs 20 (specifically, GNU emacs 20.7.1), if it 
makes a difference.

                                        Steve Summit
                                        scs@eskimo.com