Why does iTunes delete my itunesprefs.xml?

Ex_Brit wrote:

... Not everyone is having this issue, however. Not sure why.

Worst kind of bug to try and squash. 😕

tt2

Brit wrote the other day the problem was back on his computer. If you have the most recent version of iTunes and of McAfee Total Protection, you WILL have the problem. The McAfee engineers admit it.

tjonathan wrote:

Brit wrote the other day the problem was back on his computer. If you have the most recent version of iTunes and of McAfee Total Protection, you WILL have the problem. The McAfee engineers admit it.

That was then and this is now and now I don't have the problem. That may change, who knows?

Try following instructions in this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2363

Though it says it is for issue where iTunes will not open, I found the link in this discussion: iTunes isn't saving my preferences

It worked for me! iTunes is now remembering my preferences, even with McAfee Total Protection Real Time Scanning on. I did previously verify that turning off Real Time Scanning would resolve the iTunes problem (as described elsewhere in this thread), but following these instructions has resolved the problem even as I leave Real Time Scanning on.

I am not sure if my itunesprefs.xml was being deleted like it was for other users. All I know is iTunes was not remembering my preferences & intermittently asking my to agree to Software license whenever I re-opened program. After following the instructions for fixing unusable configuration file described in http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2363, I don't have the problem any more.

I have noticed though that I need to close out of program using "File... Exit" method, rather than clicking the "X" in the top right-hand corner of window to close. When clicking the "X", I noticed one time that it did not remember my sidebar option... however it did keep some of my other preferences. Though I am trying to recreate the problem now (using "X" to close) and I cannot... keeps working no matter how I close iTunes.

McAfee tried that on my PC. Their final suggestion was I downgrade my version of iTunes. Which I wasn't willing to do. Good luck and please keep us up to date. However, you keep mentioning that iTunes is the problem, it's not. It's McAfee's code interfering with iTunes when you shut it down. Also. I don't know what the difference would be between the two methods you're using to close iTunes. Maybe someone could explain that.

tjonathan - sorry to hear that solution did not work for you. I understand you are saying that the problem is with McAfee, not iTunes. Unfortunately I am not sure what exactly the cause of my problem was. I can tell you that when I had McAfee's Real Time Scanning turned on, iTunes would not remember my preferences. When I turned Real Time Scanning OFF, iTunes would remember my preferences.

I kept looking for a solution because I did not want to leave McAfee's Real Time Scanning off. By following the instructions in http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2363 (deleting 2 files from the iTunes folder "SC Info" and rebooting), my problem was fixed... even with Real Time Scanning left ON.

I guess the root cause of my problem was different than yours. Hopefully it works for others who may stumble across this thread. Does the workaround of turning off McAfee Real Time Scanning work for you?

Thanks.

After 6 hours over three days on the phone with McAfee support, nothing worked. One of their engineer's even admitted on their forums they've known about the issue for a couple of months and haven't been able to fix it. The only way iTunes returned to normal was when I deleted McAfee. Installed Microsoft Security Essentials and iTunes works perfectly. Including wifi sync.

In the early pages of this thread they provide a link to remove McAfee completely. I had this problem back in August. The only variant for me was that shutting down iTunes while it was playing something always screwed things up, and sometimes carefully stopping everything would prevent it. But it was still a problem. I removed McAfee, which ended the problem. It has been three months. I cannot believe that McAfee is still looking for a solution.

Reinstall McAfee and the issue comes right back. Their tier two support offered me a free 30 day subscription extension if I would just live with the problem until they fixed it. After all of my wasted time and effort, I asked for a refund. After going up the ranks, I was finally able to get it. But it shouldn't have been that tough. Your product interferes with my iTunes, you can't fix it, please refund my purchase price. It should have been that easy. But it wasn't.

I previously confirmed that turning off McAfee real-time scanning/protection just long enough to close iTunes worked as a workaround.

Based on the latest round of replies here, I decided to try closing iTunes using the "File" drop down and choosing "Exit," while leaving McAfee running, and then restart my computer. It worked! After the restart, I launched iTunes and I neither had to accept the Terms and Conditions, nor reset my preference to show Cloud purchases.

Caveat: I only did this the one time, so I don't know if it's a reliable solution.

I hope that work-around still functions for you. Here is a quote from Doug, a senior engineer at McAfee that was posted last week on their community forums concerning this issue:

"Folks,

Thank you for your patience. It looks like we have made progress and now have a rock solid reproducible case. This was something that was missing all along. Our next step is to file a bug with our engineering team. Either I or someone from my team will update the thread as soon as we know the timeline to the fix.

Best Regards,"

As soon as I saw this posting, I immediately offered McAfee the use of my PC to investigate the issue further. I'd had the problem every time I signed into iTunes since their last update. I never heard from Doug and my case was never escalated to a tier three support team. This is why I lost all confidence in McAfee and was extremely disappointed in the actions of the company. In researching this issue, there are posts on the Apple Support Communities dating back to July of this year. The problem continued to escalate and the latest update has spread like a virus to many iTunes users. For those that have repeatable work-arounds, please keep everyone up to date. If your work-around performs consistently for a couple of days, please post it for everyone's use.

Thank you.

Posting this that was just posted on the Mcafee forum from the tech mentioned in the post above

Next week we will be releasing a fix through the Daily Update process. The fix will come in as a content update, so there is no need to install any patches or reinstall. I will confirm here once the content is live and is available for auto-update.

I or Ex_brit will confirm as well

Has this happened yet, as I still have th eissue with iTunes. (Running Windows 7 64 bit / McAfee Total Protection)

No we have not been updated re this yet 1 of us will post here asap we hear anything.

i've been having the same issue lately. but i managed to fix it today. To fix it i uninstalled itunes, then deleted C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\iTunes folder and reinstalled itunes. and so far i don't seem to have the problem anymore