iTunes CPU Redux 1.03

Apple iTunes for Windows uses a phenomenal amount of the system resources on your computer. Upon installation, a number of services that you will possibly never use are placed on your system, and these run various processes in the background whether or not you're actually running iTunes! Yes, there are CPU resource-hogging processes that continue to run after iTunes is shut down, and they can noticeably slow down the programs you are currently using. You can see the percentage of your CPU resources that are being used by iTunes services, with or without iTunes itself, simply by opening the Windows Task Manager.

The answer to the problem is iTunes CPU Redux, a free utility from Wide Angle Software. It's a small program that monitors the processes running on your system for Apple iTunes services and automatically closes those you do not need.

Download and install iTunes CPU Redux. You'll see its icon in your Windows tool tray and know that it's running in the background to keep those iTunes processes under control. Any processes that are not currently needed are stopped so that you get your CPU resources back to efficiently work with the software you are using.

Click the program's icon to open the control panel and set up your preferences. The Settings tab will allow you to set the application to look for and close the distnoted, Sync Server, and MobileDeviceHelper processes. It can be instructed to leave Sync Server and MobileDeviceHelper running if you need them when iTunes is open. You can also use the interface to check whether iTunes should open on startup.

Your free download of the CPU resource recapturing utility enables you to:

• Monitor iTunes and the processes it starts
• Close services that are not required automatically
• Free up CPU resources for the use of other programs
• Save laptop battery life

Since it runs in the background, the utility does use some CPU resources itself. However, in comparison to the resources needed for the unwanted iTunes processes, the load is negligible, and you have the flexibility to access the functions when you do happen to need them. This, of course, is preferable to removing them entirely. System requirements for your free installation of iTunes CPU Redux are Windows 7 - 10; Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 and iTunes 10 or higher.