Q: iTunes store temporarily unavailable?

These are instructions on how to do a clean and complete uninstall of iTunes from Mac OS X. This will remove all traces of iTunes from your computer.

Make sure you have quit iTunes before beginning this tutorial.

Step One

Click to launch a new Finder window from your Dock.

Step Two

Select Applications from the list of PLACES on the left side of your Finder window. Locate the iTunes application icon then drag it into the Trash Bin on your dock.

If it tells you that "iTunes can't be modified or deleted because it is required by OS X," follow these instructions: http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/uninstall-itunes/

To disregard OS X’s warning and uninstall iTunes, navigate to the Applications folder and find the iTunes app file (/Applications/iTunes.app). Right-click (or Control-click) on iTunes and select Get Info. Locate and click on the padlock icon on the bottom right side of the window and enter your admin password. This is necessary in order to make changes to the app’s permission settings.

Next, expand the Sharing & Permissions section of the window if it’s not already visible and change the privileges for “everyone” to Read & Write. This will give us complete control of the iTunes application so that we can override the operating system’s warning and delete it.

Close the Get Info window and try again to drag the iTunes application file to the Trash. This time, there’s no warning, and the file is immediately trashed. Empty the Trash to complete the process.

Step Three

With the Finder window selected choose Utilities from the Go menu.

Step Four

Double click to launch Activity Monitor from the Utilities folder.

Step Five

In the process list locate and select iTunes Helper.

Click the Quit Process button.

When asked if you really want to quit the process, click the Quit button.

Step Six

Select System Preferences from the Apple menu at the top left of the screen.

Step Seven

Select Accounts from the System Preferences window.

Step Eight

Select the Login Items tab from the Accounts preference window

Step Nine

Select the iTunesHelper entry then click the "-" button to remove it from the list

Step Ten

Select Restart from the Apple menu at the top left of your screen to reboot your computer.

Step Eleven

Once your computer has restarted hold down the Control key and click the Trash icon in the dock. Select Empty Trash from the popup menu that appears.

If asked whether you want to remove the items in the Trash permanently, click the OKbutton.

Step Twelve

Click to launch a new Finder window from the dock.

Select Go to Folder... from the Go menu at the top of the screen.

Type in ~/Library/ and click the Go button.

Locate the iTunes folder and then drag it to the Trash.

Step Thirteen

Select Go to Folder... from the Go menu at the top of the screen.

Type in ~/Library/Preferences/ and click the Go button.

Locate the preference files that have names beginning with com.apple.iTunes and drag them to the Trash. The file names should be com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist, com.apple.iTunes.plist, and com.apple.iTunesHelper.plist.

Step Fourteen

Select Go to Folder... from the Go menu at the top of the screen.

Type in /Library/ and click the Go button.

Locate the iTunes folder and then drag it to the Trash.

Step Fifteen

Select Go to Folder... from the Go menu at the top of the screen.

Type in ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/ and click the Go button.

Locate the preference files that have names beginning with com.apple.iTunes and drag them to the Trash.

Step Sixteen

Hold down the Control key and click the Trash icon in the dock. Select Empty Trash from the popup menu that appears.

If asked whether you want to remove the items in the Trash permanently, click the OKbutton.