I went back several pages in the formum hoping I would not have to ask this but found nothing that looks like my question.

When I load my ESP file, how do I go about stopping the GECK from 'auto-selecting' all the DLC ESM files?
There are 9 of them and its a pain to keep unchecking them every time I want to edit my plugin...

Remove all the NAM files from your data folder, they are what force New Vegas and GECK (and FNVEdit) to autoload the DLCs.

When you run New Vegas you will need to then go into the Game Data Options and enable all the DLCs individually, but you only have to do it once. But the DLCs won't then be checked when you run GECK or FNVEdit this way, so it's much nicer than having to uncheck them every time you edit something.

Perfect, thanks Drake.
Its tiring to always uncheck them. Once they are required for a plugin, you never have to check them again, just have to check your plugin.