Error 1202: All potential solutions summarized and tried - can anyone offer new ideas?

Question

Hi all,
I'm seriously desperate here. The extent to which Apple pretends that the Error 1202 issue doesn’t affect hundreds of people is truly puzzling – despite there being over 8 pages of requests for help on the Apple Community dating back to 2011, and numerous views of these, the Apple iTunes Errors Troubleshooting page http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1424 still doesn’t even list the issue. Customer service? I think not.
Both the Apple Tech Support and iTunes Store Support teams have been unhelpful with regards to the Error 1202 issue, which in my case applies to two situations: a) I try to amend my account details b) I try to download anything from the iTunes store. I had really hoped the engineers worked a fix for this into v. 10.7, but that didn't happen.
But enough moaning - I really hope there's a tech wizard out there who can help all of us with this issue.
To recap, I run Windows 7, 64-bit on my machine. The Error 1202 problem became permanent around June 2012 after I downloaded an iTunes update – I’m not sure if there’s a causal link, however, because before that, it came up intermittently but somehow disappeared as quickly as it appeared without me really doing anything to my system, which suggests it’s an iTunes Store issue.
Since then, I've tried a number of reinstalls of iTunes, even going back to MUCH earlier versions (10.5.3 as recommended by some), but this has not fixed things. I’ve just suggested it’s an iTunes store issue, but the thing is that I can access my account and download things using my iPhone, which suggests that there’s an issue with my computer. However, on the other hand, my partner runs a Dell with Windows Vista installed, and she has the same problem. The only software in common between the two machines is our AVG security/firewall, but it can’t be this, as I’ve uninstalled it and reinstalled iTunes without it, to no effect. So I’m back to wondering if this is an iTunes Store issue.
To list everything I've tried so far:
* I've checked the internet date and time on my computer - it's correct
* I’ve unticked the Server Revocation Certificate option in Explorer’s Advanced Internet Options – that’s not the problem either
* It’s definitely not my firewall (AVG in my case) – I’ve tried using iTunes with it disabled; I’ve uninstalled it; I’ve used Windows Firewall – none of these combinations changed anything
* I've run the "Fix it for me" plug, recommended here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822798 and which seems to have worked for many iTunes users
* When uninstalling iTunes, I’ve uninstalled all of the different Apple programs associated with it, e.g. Bonjour etc – I’ve even uninstalled these in a very specific order as recommended by an Apple Techie, without results
* I've checked for the unwanted registry item in: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers - I don't have anything related to iTunes there that can/should be deleted
*The following sites are in my trusted websites option in Internet Explorer, so it’s not that:
albert.apple.com; ax.init.itunes.apple.com; ax.itunes.apple.com; ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net; gs.apple.com; itunes.apple.com; phobos.apple.com
* Some users have suggested that there’s a clash between 32-bit and 64-bit softwares. I’ve been using the 64 bit iTunes installer throughout; I also don’t have a 32 bit video accelerator that could be clashing with iTunes.
* I’ve run a registry cleaner, which hasn’t fixed the problem
* I’ve flushed the DNS as recommended by some, with no result
* I’ve run the root certificate update, as recommended by some users, with no result (see http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3237)
So, as you can see, I’ve tried everything that’s currently listed on the community, without getting anywhere. Any further ideas?

Answer 1

Thanks for the votes of support on this issue!
I approached iTunes again about this and I gave them a link to this list of things that I'd already tried. Do you think they paid any attention to it -- they literally responded and asked me if I'd checked my internet connection. After about the fourth round in this entire saga, they again washed their hands of it, saying that a "senior" technician couldn't resolve the issue.
Then bizarrely, to end the email, they said I could get in touch with their tech team, to try and resolve the issue ... but I HAD BEEN TALKING to the tech-team.
Engaging with this company's customer support team is like being caught in a kafkaesque story, constantly following leads through a hopeless maze of empty advice that leads nowhere. If they were a bank, they'd be bankrupt a long time ago.
Having said all that, I now use Spotify for my music, which is cheaper and they have a better range, and their downloads are standard mp3, so it can play on anything. For movies, well, netflix and love film in combo do the trick just as well. So aside from missing access to Podcasts, I've moved on. Perhaps you should too.