Installing Itunes the least bloated way possible

[faxon]

Okay long story short, every computer i have ever installed itunes on has taken twice as long to boot as it did before i installed itunes, because it installs all the services and start up programs to help you interface devices with itunes better. Now, i just got a 120gb ipod classic today for using my student discount to get my sister's new 13" macbook pro, so obviously i want to install itunes to use as the interface between my ipod and my computer since it just works best that way. my question is simple, is it possible to install itunes so all the bloatcrap that installs with itunes only starts up when i start a specific user account. i already have several accounts set up similar ways for other specific purposes, but itunes also installs several services on top of the startup processes, and i havent dealt with limiting services to specific user accounts before. i would look myself but im preoccupied with finals right now. thanks in advance for any advice or recommendations.



note: yes i already thought of just installing it to another computer i dont care about boot time on, but i dont have my old athlon 64 comp right now, and i dont have a case or PSU for my e5200+680i

 

[Kmax82]

Are you referring to Windows or OS X? I haven't experienced these issues with either, honestly. But OS X and iTunes is a wonderful combination. Runs beautifully, only a few very small hiccups, ever.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Would be really nice to have a mobile iTunes app for flash drives.

 

[Rottie]

it takes a while to load itunes 8.2 with windows vista home premium. itunes lite would be nice since i dont need mp3 or tv to download. I use Apple Store to browse apps.

 

[faxon]

Originally posted by: Kmax82
Are you referring to Windows or OS X? I haven't experienced these issues with either, honestly. But OS X and iTunes is a wonderful combination. Runs beautifully, only a few very small hiccups, ever.

this is with windows vista. OS-X is optimized so that all apple software runs smooth as ever on boot up, but on the other hand booting most stock configuration macs takes a long time anyway since they dont come with the fastest hard drives unless you choose an SSD. just using a mac isnt an option for me, since i dont physically own a mac myself, and all my music is on my main PC across several 1TB hdds. i need to transcode it from FLAC before i can even put it on my ipod anyway, so i would rather do that on my Q9650 than on any C2D

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: faxon

Originally posted by: Kmax82
Are you referring to Windows or OS X? I haven't experienced these issues with either, honestly. But OS X and iTunes is a wonderful combination. Runs beautifully, only a few very small hiccups, ever.

this is with windows vista. OS-X is optimized so that all apple software runs smooth as ever on boot up, but on the other hand booting most stock configuration macs takes a long time anyway since they dont come with the fastest hard drives unless you choose an SSD. just using a mac isnt an option for me, since i dont physically own a mac myself, and all my music is on my main PC across several 1TB hdds. i need to transcode it from FLAC before i can even put it on my ipod anyway, so i would rather do that on my Q9650 than on any C2D

I don't think he was suggesting that you use a Mac so much as that he was saying that his main experience is with iTunes on OS X.

Anyway, I am not sure how best to slim down iTunes so that Windows will boot faster, but just so I have an idea what you are talking about, how fast does it boot without iTunes and how fast is it with iTunes installed?

 

[faxon]

i dont have the system that had it installed anymore, but when booting from a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB drive it was in the order of 25% slower once i installed itunes. the very first thing i noticed after i rebooted was how much longer it took to reboot, and upon rebooting again to make sure it wasnt just the fact that i had installed new software, it took equally as long to boot. my boot disk is a WD Velociraptor 150gb now, but even then the difference of 25% slower is just nasty. also, this was with itunes installed under XP, and my vista install is optimized so it boots significantly faster. any addition to my boot time is significantly more likely to be noticed, since my boot time from POST to windows is like 15-20s now, unlike the minute it was under XP. adding another 10-15s just to have itunes start on boot when i dont need it is ridiculous

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: faxon
i dont have the system that had it installed anymore, but when booting from a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB drive it was in the order of 25% slower once i installed itunes. the very first thing i noticed after i rebooted was how much longer it took to reboot, and upon rebooting again to make sure it wasnt just the fact that i had installed new software, it took equally as long to boot. my boot disk is a WD Velociraptor 150gb now, but even then the difference of 25% slower is just nasty. also, this was with itunes installed under XP, and my vista install is optimized so it boots significantly faster. any addition to my boot time is significantly more likely to be noticed, since my boot time from POST to windows is like 15-20s now, unlike the minute it was under XP. adding another 10-15s just to have itunes start on boot when i dont need it is ridiculous

That's fair I suppose, but have you ever considered... not turning off your computer?

 

[faxon]

i sleep in the same room with it, and its hot here. having a computer putting out a ton of heat while im sleeping in an already hot room with a girlfriend who is also a hot sleeper like me generally ends up adding up to a LOT of excess heat. if i dont open the window while im gaming the temperature in my room will go up to 90f easily

 

[IHAVEAQUESTION]

I just wish Apple doesn't make installing Quicktime mandatory. iTune itself is bloated enough already.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: faxon
i sleep in the same room with it, and its hot here. having a computer putting out a ton of heat while im sleeping in an already hot room with a girlfriend who is also a hot sleeper like me generally ends up adding up to a LOT of excess heat. if i dont open the window while im gaming the temperature in my room will go up to 90f easily

I did see on LifeHacker that there is something called Startup Delayer that will, well, delay things from starting. So at boot you have very few things, and then after maybe 30 seconds something starts, then another 30 seconds, the next thing and so on.

Or

Sleep/Hibernate?

I mean, if you cannot find anyone/anywhere that has the info, then your choices are:
Don't shutdown
Learn to live with it taking 10 whopping extra seconds

 

[faxon]

yea my original plan was to just toss itunes on my other system which is an identical processor/ram config to your desktop, with a similar boot disk setup. it's my secondary/backup gaming rig so i dont give a crap how long it takes to boot since i only use it when i need 2 systems or a friend is using it. the issue is i dont have my case or PSU to set it up right now since they are in use with my loaner system, and i havent had a chance to pick up a 3rd case yet for my loaner to use. i will just image my OS disk before i install it so if it doesnt work how i want it to i can just re-image it back

 

[KeithP]

Maybe you could install it in a virtual machine? Strip the VM of anything not needed for iTunes or net access. Then just run the VM when needed.

-KeithP

 

[umrigar]

run MSCONFIG to turn off startup items related to iTunes?

http://grok.lsu.edu/Article.as...cleId=9835&printable=y

 

[faxon]

Originally posted by: KeithP
Maybe you could install it in a virtual machine? Strip the VM of anything not needed for iTunes or net access. Then just run the VM when needed.

-KeithP

shit why didnt i think of that lol. now i can put my old copy of XP home w/o any service packs installed to good use, given that it takes 12 hours to get it fully up to date because of how old it is including the time installing it.

 

[Rottie]

Originally posted by: TheStu
Learn to live with it taking 10 whopping extra seconds

I do not have any patience and my laptop is making to work faster

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Rottie

Originally posted by: TheStu
Learn to live with it taking 10 whopping extra seconds

I do not have any patience and my laptop is making to work faster

Shwat?

And you want to talk about a delayed start, every time I boot into Windows on my Hack, I have to first go into BIOS to switch the boot drive order (I need to install Chameleon already), then I have to let it restart, run POST, again, do its AHCI thing, again, and then get to the Windows bootloader so I can choose between Vista and 7. I choose 7, I then have to put up with DiskCheck. Which for whatever reason cannot be cancelled. My USB keyboard works to get me into BIOS, works in BIOS, lets me choose the OS, but then won't work to let me cancel the check. It then works again to log into Windows. It is a 500GB NTFS drive, so the check takes a while.

So, once I choose 7 (it also defaults to 7, so once I reboot sometimes) I just go get something to drink, or make a sandwich or something.

 

[VinylxScratches]

I didn't notice any boot difference when I installed iTunes on my Mac Mini using Windows Vista only.