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DO NOT download iTUNES FOR WINDOWS!

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DO NOT download iTUNES FOR WINDOWS!
DO NOT download APPLE's ITUNES FOR WINDOWS!

The saying "There is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch" couldn't be more true in the case of iTunes from Apple.

iTunes for Windows contains Spyware -- software used to track usage of your computer and alter its operation.
The information is transfered, without your knowledge, to Apple computer, and its marketing partners, over the Internet.


How it works:
The iTunes installer from Apple Computer installed several programs, without my permission or knowledge, which have permanetnly altered my Windows system.
I have tried removing some of the components, but still, each time I visit ANY website that has Quicktime support, something installed by iTunes causes a couple of invisible background processes (qttask.exe and ituneshelper.exe) to get installed in my computer's Startup Programs list and launched.
The claim for "ituneshelper.exe" is that it "required" for burning CD's, but it does not make sense why you need an INVISIBLE BACKGROUND PROGRAM running on your system 24 hours a day just so you can burn CD's once in a while. No other CD burning software has such a requirement.
The other program "qttask.exe" is also spyware with apparently no other purpose.

If anyone figures out (or knows of spyware removing software that can handle) how to remove the spyware installed by Apple iTunes please post it! HELP!

I have since switched to MusicMatch.com, but I am still stuck with Apple's spyware.

Napster is back, but there is another that sells music for only 25 cents (compared to apple's outrageous $1 per song).
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Re: [helpmee] DO NOT download iTUNES FOR WINDOWS! In reply to
Can you please back your spyware claim? Just because you don't know what purpose a background process serves does not mean the program is spyware. Example: many HP desktops come with a program that runs in the background called "PS2.exe" and for a while many people swore up and down it was spyware but it's actually a harmless program that handles the special buttons on the multimedia keyboard.

Philip
------------------
Limecat is not pleased.
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Re: [fuzzy logic] DO NOT download iTUNES FOR WINDOWS! In reply to
Believe me, with the number of people that are on slashdot and have been using iTunes, if there was spyware involved i'm SURE it would have been mentioned long before someone decided to create an account at gossamer and post one single message crying that the sky was falling :)
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Re: [fuzzy logic] DO NOT download iTUNES FOR WINDOWS! In reply to
>>>"PS2.exe"<<<

Not to be confused with "P2P.exe", which is a Kazaa piece of SpyWare Frown

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk
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Re: [helpmee] DO NOT download iTUNES FOR WINDOWS! In reply to
Do you work for Microsoft?

- wil
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Re: [helpmee] DO NOT download iTUNES FOR WINDOWS! In reply to
He must work for MicroShaft!

Just switch to Apple, this G5 with OS X on a FreeBSD base... just plain ROCKS!
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Re: [diversity] DO NOT download iTUNES FOR WINDOWS! In reply to
While it's not exactly extensive testing, on my system I was able to get rid of iTunesHelper.exe by stopping the iPod service. For whatever reason, Apple seems to think that if I want Quicktime, I must also own an iPod and want their software running 24/7.

MacDaddy
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Re: [helpmee] DO NOT download iTUNES FOR WINDOWS! In reply to
HelpMee,

For qttask.exe try this link: http://www.reger24.de/prozesse/qttask.exe.php You shouldn't have any trouble disabling it.

If you're worried about iTunes search google to see if anybody has reported it as spyware. You can also load Spybot Search and Destroy to remove spyware.

BTW, Apple has a pretty good privacy policy. Napster, on the other hand, records what songs you listen to, how many times you listen to it, and what times you listen to it.

No, I don't work for Apple, I'm a Computer Science professor.