Completely Remove iTunes and Other Apple Software from a Windows Computer

If you are giving up on iTunes for another music player, uninstalling it completely can be a hassle.

We recently showed you how tomake iTunes perform faster on your Windows computer.

While those tricks do work, iTunes can still be frustrating for some Windows users.

You’ll need to go through and uninstall each item.

Unfortunately, even doing that leaves a lot behind.

Also, ensure you backup all of your purchased music to a safe location on another drive.

Either thefree versionor Revo Uninstall Pro (links below) which we show in this example.

The Pro version gives you a free 30 day trial, so let’s start with it.

Then the next step scans for leftover files and folders…quite a lot.

If you want everything completely off your system, just select them all and delete.

It also found leftover Registry items after uninstalling QuickTime and Bonjour.

It located several more leftovers that Revo didn’t catch.

But you might easily delete them from here.

Other terms you should search for are Apple, QuickTime, and iPod.

For example here in C:\Program Files.

Also in C:\Users\computer_name\Roaming\Apple Computer.

And C:\Users\computer_name\AppData\Local we found some empty folders.

Some QuickTime leftovers were found in C:\Users\Computer_Name\AppData\LocalLow.

We deleted all of the leftovers manually.

If you decide to do this, double-check tobackup your Registry first.

An easier method for most users would be to run a cleanup utility likeCCleaner.

When installing it though, confirm to uncheck installing the worthless Yahoo Toolbar.

When we ran it, there were Registry tweaks still there that we could get rid of.

Another thing that doesn’t hurt to ensure everything is gone is to run Disk Cleanup.

Now hit Ctrl+A to select everything in the Temp folder and then Delete.

So you could start with it, then go through and manually remove the rest.

Conclusion

Is completely removing iTunes and its apps from you Windows machine a huge annoyance?

Well yes, it is indeed.

However following these steps will help you get rid of all traces of everything it installed.

In our example we were removing iTunes 9.2.1.5 from Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

These steps will work with XP, Vista, and Windows 7 32-bit editions as well.

If you’re looking for a fully customizable alternative that will recognize your iPod check outour article on Foobar2000.

Downloads

Download Revo Uninstaller

Download ByeTunes

Download CCleaner

Download Everything