Submission details
iTunes ignores the system-wide 'Check for updates' setting
iTunes still checks for updates even if I have turned off 'Check for updates' in the Software Updates system prefeference pane. Users have to manually turn off updates in iTunes itself.
This is absolutely infuriating for novice users. I regularly set up computers for elderly and disabled clients. Here in Australia internet access is pretty poor and only about 45% of the population have broadband, and even then many people have 200MB or 400MB monthly download limits. I always turn off automatic system updates for these people, because trying to download 200MB+ updates over a dialup connection is almost impossible and it slows down the internet connection so much the computer becomes unusable for internet. A 46MB iTunes update can take a few days of continuous dialup access with a poor connection such as in rural Australia. However I didn't realise until now that recent versions of iTunes still check for updates, and some of those novice users clicked 'Update' without realising it effectively disables their internet until the download is finished.
iTunes updates can separately be disabled in the application itself, but because it is an Apple application, it should respect the system-wide update setting.
High
Medium
Not fixed
Discussion (3 comments)
I love your idea about a global 'Don't update ANYTHING' preference which includes third-party software. It would solve a LOT of issues.
itunes 8.2.1 wants to update to 9.2 on my G3 mac. Apple says 9.2 doesn't run on the G3 and software update doesn't suggest an update. This is an annoyance if not a bug. Apple shouldn't have an update check running in itunes if you are on a mac with a software update mechanism.
carlosefonseca wrote on January 3, 2009, 12:35am
I tried iMovie and it also has a separate "check for updates" preference.
The system-wide setting is just for system updates. iTunes is an application just like any other, and each application has its update preference. A user might need an app so much that he only activates the updates for that one. That checkbox if only for the SYSTEM, where there isn't any other checkbox.
I'm assuming that, e.g., Safari is part of the system but iTunes is not, it's an iLife application. Safari updates bring updates to the "web subsystem" (webkit, javascript, etc), but iTunes updates are accompanied by Quicktime updates and only those update the "audio/video subsystem"
(I'm making the terms so it's more understandable, I hope)
In conclusion, you might want some global preference that disables updates for everything, third parties included. Otherwise it doesn't make sense to ask for one app to behave differently.