How in the Tech

Prevent iTunes from auto-launching from Firefox or Chrome

By Adam Myers ⋅ April 17, 2010 ⋅ Tags: Annoyances, Firefox, Google Chrome, Multimedia

Let’s face it, few people actually admit to using and enjoying the iTunes application – especially on Windows. We all remain attached to it however because it’s the easiest way to access Apple’s App Store and conversely, the simplest way to get content onto your iPhone, iPod, or iPad. The iTunes application straddles this fictitious line where it’s barely tolerable enough to keep us attached but not complete garbage where we’d start looking for an alternative. There are many media library managers that can sync with Apple’s devices but few ultimately make that switch away from iTunes, myself included.

Apple provides the ability to browse the content of their iTunes store through a web browser. The experience is ironically much better than their efforts through the iTunes application directly. However, it is not long before a few clicks within their web-based store initiates the launching of iTunes – generally with no prompts or warning. Actually, the warning sign might be a sudden grinding and thrashing of your hard drive! That was a cheap shot by a blogger who tries to remain neutral ..

Annoying isn’t it? You should know it’s quite easy to neuter this feature in Firefox and Chrome, however.

Navigate to Tools-> Options within Firefox.

Click on the Applications tab and search for iTunes in the search box. Click the drop-down under the Actions header and choose Always ask. This will prevent Firefox from opening iTunes automatically.

Google Chrome is equally straight-forward. In the address bar of Chrome type about:plugins.

Scroll through the listings looking for a plugin titled iTunes Application Detector. Disable this plugin by following the Disable link.

It’s at this point that the plug-in functionality described above is currently limited to the developer channel of Chrome. If you’d like to switch the channel you are following in Chrome, likely the Stable, download and run the Google Chrome Channel Changer.