Don't be tempted by the shiny apple...

Few weeks back my Granddaughter asked me to buy her some songs and games to put on her iBullshit MP3 player...  Only problem is that I haven't got iTune$ installed on my PC. And not wanting to disappoint her or to look like a cheap skate, I decided to download and install iTune$...

 

Everything went smoothly, including signing a binding none-exclusive contract with blood and giving Apple the deeds to my soul, house and finances..

So I bought the stuff, granddaughter was happy... Now it's time to remove this wretched, spyware infested piece of crappy, software off my PC...

I first used the usual uninstall route... The disk whirled and the messages on the screen told me that all has been successfully uninstalled.

After the "Successful" uninstallation, I noticed a few issues with regards to:

1. All my original videos and music files seem to be "still" associated with iTune$ and QuickTime.
2. Apple updates seem to be running on my PC every 20 minutes.
3. Each time I click on a link, Apple's iTune$ seems to install out of nowhere.
4. The Bonjour service and Apple folders seem to be left on my drive.

And so I decided to check my drive and see how to fix the problems, and was surprised to find that within my "Program Files" folder, I still seem to have an Apple folder with 100's MB sitting pretty, when I thought that I've removed that, I also had an Apple folder with 100's more MB's within the "Common Files" folder and the hidden "Application Data" folder, and 1000+ entries inside the Registry, all referring to Apple + the Bonjour Service (which I don't remember ever installing or ever being asked to install)..

Frustrated with the hassle of cancelling the iTune$ set-up each time I wanted to listen to a song, I decided to use the "Occam's razor" principle, and deleted the offending folders and registry entries by hand...

All went well, until I restarted the PC when "all hell broke loose":

• Windows explorer would not load (that was easily rectifies with a quick "ctrl-alt-del" loading of the "Task Manager" and starting a new task "explorer").
• The wireless network was unable to detect any networks in the vicinity - I had to run "services.msc" in order to restart the "Wireless Zero Config" service, and this did not work or help.
• Repairing the connection did not work.
• Starting a command prompt "cmd" and running "ipconfig /release" & "ipconfig /renew" could not fix it either.
• As a last resort, I decided to use the excellent "WinsockXPFix" from "^Explicit Software Solutions" (which has saved my bacon on more than one occasion, and which I always carry with me, on a flash drive) - And after a quick reboot, all seems to be back to normal...

The question is why do I need 1000+ registry entries, 100's MB of shiteware and so much hassle, all in order to buy few songs + games... And the other question is, why did the Bonjour service take total control over my computer network, and why when I uninstall those, they remain active on my hard disk, including their updates...

I remember, years ago, the problems I had trying to uninstall a copy of QuickTime, and now I know that my best option is to avoid all Apple products from now-on, regardless of how tempting they might be - We all remember Adam & Eve and the forbidden fruit...