MORE THAN ANY other piece of software, iTunes is most likely to suck down 100 percent of my CPU and grind my work to a halt.
Yes, fanbois, iTunes sucks more of my W7 2.8 Ghz 8 GB RAM processor than the much-maligned Flash. And because I need my processor to work, not just run my laptop's fans as space heaters, I have taken charge of iTunes and started to aggressively figure out ways to minimise its use. This is a challenge for me because I've used iTunes as far back as I can remember with an iPod that I got for Christmas 2003 and with a dozen devices in between. Repeated syncs, multiple iTunes accounts, and disparate forms of digital media have often confused iTunes to the point where more than 500 tracks are unfound whenever I sync. The tracks are in the folder iTunes uses to keep my earbuds happy but iTunes cannot figure out the tracks.
And worse, iTunes won't recognise my iPod Touch so I couldn't upgrade it to iOS 5 until I did a few things below the break.
1. I went to the Command Prompt on my W7 machine and typed netsh winsock reset when iTunes froze at 100% CPU and refused permission to update the iPod Touch.
2. I used ideas from How-to Geek to start removing iTunes from my computer. I need to remove iTunes, then let CCleaner deal with remnants it found in the Registry and throughout the program files. I wanted a clean installation of iTunes before I started an update to iOS 5.
3. I downloaded the iOS 5 update separately and stored it in my downloads folder.
4. After I installed a fresh version of iTunes, my iPod Touch was recognised but iTunes wanted to wipe it back to factory default settings. I let iTunes do that.
5. I installed iOS 5 and then let iTunes sync my apps. I plan to manage my music and videos through another program.
I've now got a working iPod Touch and I like the new iOS notifications service. It reminds me of Android notifications but with nicer fonts and backgrounds.
Essential: How to completely remove iTunes by How-To Geek.
