Solution: iTunes 10.5 using 100% CPU / Not backing up your iPhone.

A word of caution. This worked for me too (Win7Pro x64), but I had to reinstall some other software that the reset impacted. See info here for more details on the netsh winsock reset command:

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/winsock.htm

I can confirm that uninstalling AVG Family Safety removed the 100% CPU usage problem for me on Windows Vista. Given that I did not have this problem with iTunes version 9 and same version of AVG Family safety and also of other users reporting this problem going away when removing any type of internet traffic monitoring/blocking software, this sounds like an Apple problem.

http://forums.avg.com/ca-en/avg-forums?sec=thread&act=show&id=179545#post_179545

But given that Apple has become the new Microsoft...too big and arrogant to listen to their customers, this problem will continue until people stop buying every new Product that Apple puts out.

They do not monitor these forums and that alone tells how much they care about what their Customers are thinking or facing when using their products and services.

I have tried pretty much all of the things people have suggested, but to no avail. iTunes continues to crash my computer after a couple of minutes of running my CPU at or near 100% (and I think overheating it). I cannot fully sync my iPhone and I am incredibly frustrated! I do not have any problems with any other programs that I run.

Any further help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

While this did not completely fix my problem, I did this and I also went to "Task Manager" and found and killed "AppleMobileBackup.exe". I had my iPhone 3GS upgrade running the background - stuck in the stupid back-up cycle. The SECOND I killed AppleMobileBackup.exe, the backup shot off and the upgrade completed in minutes.

So - ANYONE - who did the "netsh winsock reset" and did not get resolution... try killing AppleMobileBackup.exe

I also killed "AppleMobileDeviceHelper.exe" - it came back, so I'm not sure if it helped or not.

Thank you so much, this put everything back to normal with my speed issues and even fixed my problems with backing up and syncing. Big relief!

Awesome! This worked on my laptop with XP Pro v2002 SP3!!

OH MY GOODNESS, it worked on my accer windows 7. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO THROW MY IPOD AWAY OR BUY A MAC COMPUTER TO USE ITUNES...THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE TIP.

This is not a fix, but a bad work around. Apple did not follow guidelines on working with Microsoft Winsock, and caused problems for legitimate programs. I develop this kind of software and Apple has put me in a position of trying to fix something they broke. This is completely Apple's fault. We need Apple to fix their bug and not push other developers to shut down their software by reseting the Winsock Chain so someone can run a badly written ITunes.

I agree. It's a hack. It works. But Apple is notorious for breaking stuff.

For example, Applets no longer work under their Safari browser.

This is another example of a poor programming from Apple.

thank you! i have no idea why this works but it does, problem solved!

Worked for me, thanks.

I agree with TrevTron3000, I have no clue why this worked, but it certainly did! Thankyou sooooooooo much, I have spent hours trying everything I could find........you rock!!!!!

thank you so much. i was panicing so much there 🙂

Thank you so much! I even had my PC and I-Pad at the Apple store and they didn't know what to do. This command prompt thing fixed my Windows XP machine. As other people have said, everything runs faster, and now my I-Pad will back up to my PC. It wouldn't for the past two months!

Thanks Again!