Why is ATH.exe using 50% of my CPU?

I'm also getting the error when trying to submit a bug report, have e-mailed to the suggested e-mail address however haven't had anything back (not unexpected, suspect they are slammed).

For the life of me I just cannot understand how Apple could be so unwilling to address this very repeatable issue that many thousands of customers must have. I doubt most people would notice this issue as no one I know expects wireless sync to work reliably & the runaway ATH.exe process consumes one full CPU core, hence on a quad core machine 25% of CPU.

I wonder how much CPU processing this issue has wasted, suspect we could have sorted out SETI & the folding of various things. Also wonder how many people think their Windows laptop battery life is very poor, only to find it's badly written Apple processes wasting CPU.

Recommend that everyone raises issues with Apple where possible (rather hard as the bug reporting system doesn't work!).

I'm getting un-authorised when I click on the "branched" link.

You bring up an interesting point. The majority of PC users running Windows might never be aware of this problem. There is no question that running a processor at an elevated level of occupancy will dramatically reduce the performance at a minimum. An uneducated PC user would never be aware of this problem, for example my neighbors. I've checked their PC's and advised them to never synch via WiFi. I think there could be potential liability issues here if anyone could associate a processor failure with this but that would be ridiculously hard. I have noticed instances of ATH.exe grabbing 25% CPU per device and I have 2 devices. My neighbors, between everyone have 5 devices. Apple, WAKE UP!

This is pathetic now, I can't even see the separate discussion anymore. For months now my machine fan starts going like mad and CPU use goes up to 25% for that sole process.

This seems like a massive middle finger to PC users

Honestly... I've been on this thread for around a year. Apple doesn't care one bit. I've submitted bug reports. You'll have to just deal with it. iTunes is essentially Malware.

Malware Symptoms

While these types of malware differ greatly in how they spread and infect computers, they all can produce similar symptoms. Computers that are infected with malware can exhibit any of the following symptoms:

• Increased CPU usage
• Slow computer or web browser speeds
• Problems connecting to networks
• Freezing or crashing
• Programs running, turning off, or reconfiguring themselves (malware will often reconfigure or turn off antivirus and firewall programs)
• Strange computer behavior

Well at least I know it's not just me who can't see the new branched thread linked in the header.

Can someone who is permitted to see it post replies, etc here so the rest of us peons whose money apparently isn't good enough for Apple know what steps (probably none) are being taken to address this issue.

Keep in mind this is just one piece of functionality of a very large piece of software which is - my favorite price - FREE! :-) iTunes isn't developed maliciously. Windows isn't their core business. There is a reasonable workaround. And using "malware" in this way would qualify a lot of commercial and opensource software. Lacking a unit test? Yes. A poorly written regression test? Sure. Needs code optimization? Definitely.

Keep an eye out for the release notes of upcoming versions as clearly Support isn't stopping by here to join in this conversation! ;-)

I think you miss the point completely. The software is FREE! But this particular function is a result of the detection of my iPhone which is not FREE and you can only sync it with iTunes. This process kills my battery when not plugged in and for some reason has managed to fire itself up 5 times today which I then have to open task manager and kill manually.

This application turns out to be far from free when I have to take myself away from paid work 5 times a day to kill the process. I only want to listen to some music!

I personally wouldn't even use it if it wasn't for needing to sync my phone to it.

Worse thing is, phone is not even plugged in when it starts firing up. It's actually just started doing it away whilst writing this message.

cdf5736,

As pointed out by Chris Lomax, your argument is a total fail. My iPads weren't free. My iPod Nano wasn't free. My AppleTV wasn't free. The music I purchased through Apple's iTunes wasn't free. The Apps on my iPhones, Ipads and AppleTV aren't all free. Apple shares at every level in the revenue. Apple effectively forces you to use iTunes. Apple pushes to leave iTunes running so you can seemlessly share your music library across all devices on your home network. And right there is where the crux of the matter is: leaving iTunes running locks ones computer up with high CPU usage.

As for it "needs optimization". Yes it does. And this problem has existed for a while now, not just a quirk with the latest version. Apple obviously is more interested in pushing the latest hardware instead of paying attention to the tools needed/offered at the software level to keep customers happy and returning.

Not to say this isn't a bug and shouldn't be fixed, but...

It seems some recent respondents may not be aware there is a trivially simple workaround: turn off wireless syncing. That's it; probably goes away completely. So you can still leave iTunes up 24/7, still have full use of your expensive iPhones, iPads, and iPods. You just need to plug in to sync, exactly as everyone needed to do until around a year or two ago anyhow. The problem *only* exists wehen using the wireless sync feature.

Hi Marc, I was aware of the work around although this is something that should have been fixed a long time ago. What is the point in having something they deem as a major feature, ie wireless syncing, if a majority of people can't use it.

I bet a majority of people don't even realise it is happening, they just assume their computer is running really slow. I have a fairly decent machine so I don't notice it but I notice my fan kicking in and my CPU touching 25%

Marc Sabatella wrote:

It seems some recent respondents may not be aware there is a trivially simple workaround: turn off wireless syncing. That's it; probably goes away completely. So you can still leave iTunes up 24/7, still have full use of your expensive iPhones, iPads, and iPods. You just need to plug in to sync, exactly as everyone needed to do until around a year or two ago anyhow. The problem *only* exists wehen using the wireless sync feature.

Correct. Corded phones and portable CD players work too, but I don't want to go back to that. 🙂 Wireless syncing was added with iOS 5 on October 12, 2011. It was released to beta testers in June 2011. It shouldn't take a company the size of Apple two years to get this working right.

iTunes may be "free", but my iPhones and iPads certainly were not.

Apple doesn't give a crap about PC users. I was unimpressed when I found PhotoStream only worked part-time on the PC, but I recently had to uninstall iCloud altogether because it started causing the PC to hang. Now I've turned off a major iTunes feature. What these people don't seem to realize is thier customers have options and they won't tolerate this crap. I have a house full of Apple gear (including a Mac which it pains me to say is no better than a PC, just a lot more expensive), but I won't be wasting my money in that direction again.

COMPLETELY agree. I've owned every model of iphone since 3g. 3g, 4, 4s and now 5. My wife owns a 4s. We have an ipad and several apple computers, but I still need a PC for working (in and out of home).

I'm officially done with Apple. My colleagues show me their Android phones and for the first time ever I'm jealous. Huge stunning screens, slick interface, no bugs. No iTunes dependence, no need to open task manager and shut down rogue malware virus iTunes every day.

I've been posting on this thread for over a year. I've tried submitting bug reports and spent way too much time on this. Apple doesn't care one bit. Not even enough to acknowledge anyone on this thread.

Time to move along. Apple is losing another few customers, and I hope more people start to look for alternatives. A bigger Android user base is better for everyone.

Hmm, I haven't used a recent version of Android. The version I used "solved" this problem by not providing any sort of wireless syncing feature at all. So I gather it now not only provides such a feature - completely automatic wireless syncing of your purchases as well as all media and app data - but it has been proven bug free? Impressive if so! Odd that I've never heard of it, though. Or perhaps you are proposing "solving" the problem of a bug with one particular feature by switching to a platform that doesn't provide anything even close to that feature in the first place?

I am pretty sure there is saying involving noses and faces that applies here.