Is there any way to prevent Excel from automatically making a hyperlink out
of anything that looks like it ought to be one? I find this "feature" very
annoying.

I don't even like hyperlinks in my spreadsheets. I almost never have a use
for that. Why does Excel force me to deal with them?

Also, there really ought to be an easier, single-click way to remove all
hyperlinks at once. Or is there one I don't know about?