Q: itunes is using 100 % CPU

I've been trying to get all the PCs in the house (4) onto one iTunes library on a NAS, and also upgrade the wife's iPad to 5.1 (which demanded an upgrade of iTunes from 10.4, to 10.6, which is how I got here, and wasted one morning and two evenings, and still have to downgrade back to 10.4, just to stop the 100% CPU lockout on two of the 4 machines)

After reviewing the info at http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4123 , especially the list of software that Apple admits it doesn't play well with, the problem seems obvious: Apple's engineers have never been out in the world, just in the safe Apple orchard behind Steve's house.

Excuse me, but Kerberos, eset and CA security? These are major net Security operations. All the kids over at Apple always like to talk about how they don't get viruses (virii?) but all this means is that they should test their software when they deploy it into an environment that does.

These are the same engineers that wrote themselves into a corner that only throwing it all away and switching to unix could get them out of. That only giving up on their own platform and switching to Intel could make them profitable long enough to squeeze out a 'pod.

And these are the engineers we're relying on to write software for theWindows environment? Not sure who's more delusional, them or us.

I think that I may have found out a fix to the backup hang without restarting the cpu,

simply open up task manager and find mobile back up.exe and kill process tree,

you will get a backup warning then the rest of the Ipad will sync.

I just did that while browsing this forum <10 min and tried it and it synced before I was finished typing...

Ipad2 ios5.1

win xp

japiohelp, your WINSOCK RESET approach worked on my XP SP3 machine.  Not only did it kill the load on the CPU, it made it so I could access the freaking iTunes network online (and update my phone, access the iTunes store, etc!)  I've been working, via email, with the Apple support folks on this for weeks.  This was the ONLY thing that has made a difference.  THANK YOU!!!!  You get genius status in my book. 

My sanity doth return.  I will pass this on via some of the other communities I have joined. I encourage others to do the same! 

Hats off to you japiohelp. This issue has been plaguing my daughter for some time now. Not sure where you got it but I thank you, sincerely! I believe you have achieved legend status on this thread.

I will make sure to try to help others as you have helped me (and others).

This procedure worked on my XP (2002 - Service Pack 3). Yippee. Thank you bud for good advice!

I copied and pasted the prompt as you wrote it exactly into the compamd line in command prompt, it took a minute or so to process then asked to restart. I did. iTunes no longer bogs down 100% of CPU. It does peak briefly high but around 3 or 4% now.

Thanks!

japiohelp thanks so much. the following command... in command prompt on Windows 7 or XP Service Pack 3 works:

netsh winsock reset

hit enter and it should say something like winsock reset successful now reboot your computer.

The result:

1. CPU is no longer 100, now works normally on itunes and much quicker.

2. iTunes / iPhone link, synch work properly now.

3. I can now login to iTunes store (after v10.5 upgrade I couldnt due to CPU being overrun @ 100%)

4. My blood pressure has gone down! Great!

The "netsh winsock reset" worked for me - thanks!

I wiped the computer and did a fresh install of WinXP SP3 and applied all patches and updates.  Installed iTunes 10.6.3.25 and restricted it to just iTunes - no extras.

So far so good.  CPU is running just fine.

Now I have to recreate my iTune library so I can re-load 128GB of tunes onto my iPod (I have 240GB of space).  Painfull!!!!!!!!!!!.  Why iTunes can't just copy all my MP3s off of my iPod is beyond me.  UGH!!!!!!!!!  Brain dead.

If I cound get a Zune player  or other MP3 device with 240GB of storage I'd just dump the whole iTunes thing.

winsock reset and reset sync history didnt works for me, im on windows 8, even im not connecting devices to my computer when i quit itunes distnoted start himself to take 50% of the cpu with MobileDeciveHelper...

i made clean install twice, second time without kaspersky and it looks working and after installing kaspersky the problem happend again but sometimes the probleme take 3 min to start.

i allowed all connecting though kaspersky, even disable it, checked with "autorun" but there's noting.

all connecting test passed, and same probleme with itunes safe mode.

fed up, ill think about windows tablet in 1 year and samsung galaxy, if its not working i trash, i hate lossing my time like this

distnoted.exe with administratives right and i can use itunes normaly and synchronysing fast but when i quit itunes SyncServer start and and use 50% of cpu alone..........

Thanks Buddy!! Your solution helped me. Just made the account to thank you.

glad it works for you also :)

do yo have still SyncServer at 50% when you quit itunes?

when i give SyncServer administratives rights i have error when launching itunes "couldnt load services blablabla..."

the reply was not for me :(

fix it for me windows 7 32 bit thanks japiohelp

Just in case anyone is still having issues with this, i thought i let you know what happened with me.

Itunes was running fine for ages - all of a sudden it started using 100% of the cpu when ever it was open, even when not playing. This made the computer unusable.

I came across this thread and tired the WINSOCK RESET. unfortunately, this didn't work.

Next i tried uninstallin bonjour.. this didnt work, and also ment that i couldnt use airplay.( never realy realized what bonjour actualy done )

I then tried upgrading itunes, and that didn't do anything either. - but did get bonjour and airplay going again,.

Even with every other service on the pc ( AV etc.. ) closed, itunes would run at 100% - and barely work.

Next i tired reinstalling itunes, and then replacing the lib file with a backup, so i still had play counts / ratings etc.. but still the same problem.

I had decided to export the itunes lib, ready to run it on another PC.

Just out of curiosity, after having exported the ib to an xml file, i done a shift start on Itunes ( hold shift when you start it up ) - and created a new lib.

I noticed that Itunes would run fine with the empty lib. So with fingers crossed, i imported the old lib from the xml file, and now it all runs fine. Same PC, same Itunes installation that was having problems.