ITunes does not launch in Windows 7 (BEX/APPCRASH)

Question

I have been having this itunes error since I updated to 10.5
I am running Windows 7 Professional 32 bit
I am able to run Quicktime 7 normally
When I try to open iTunes, the pointer shows the spinning wheel briefly, then nothing. There is no error message. I tried updating windows and drivers to the latest versions already. In addition, I followed the troubleshooting steps on the apple website, and all to no avail. Disabling all processes except Itunes and its helper app still not solve the problem, neither is creating another user account the solution.
I decided to check out the event viewer and these are 4 logs that i see.
Faulting application name: iTunes.exe, version: 10.5.0.142, time stamp: 0x4e9243f2
Faulting module name: kernel32.dll, version: 6.1.7601.17651, time stamp: 0x4e2111bf
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0004c35d
Faulting process id: 0xfb8
Faulting application start time: 0x01c1928683085e69
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\kernel32.dll
Report Id: c27df17d-fe79-11d5-9dae-0018f3f5ef96
Fault bucket , type 0
Event Name: APPCRASH
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0
Problem signature:
P1: iTunes.exe
P2: 10.5.0.142
P3: 4e9243f2
P4: kernel32.dll
P5: 6.1.7601.17651
P6: 4e2111bf
P7: c0000005
P8: 0004c35d
P9:
P10:
Attached files:
These files may be available here:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue\AppCrash_iTunes.exe_5b5943c2b5cd8df5f87bf0359691729163e618_0ebc62f7
Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report Id: c27df17d-fe79-11d5-9dae-0018f3f5ef96
Faulting application name: iTunes.exe, version: 10.5.0.142, time stamp: 0x4e9243f2
Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0031dfa0
Faulting process id: 0xbe4
Faulting application start time: 0x01c19286911b3829
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.exe
Faulting module path: unknown
Report Id: d1f86217-fe79-11d5-9dae-0018f3f5ef96
Fault bucket , type 0
Event Name: BEX
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0
Problem signature:
P1: iTunes.exe
P2: 10.5.0.142
P3: 4e9243f2
P4: StackHash_2264
P5: 0.0.0.0
P6: 00000000
P7: 0031dfa0
P8: c0000005
P9: 00000008
P10:
Attached files:
C:\Users\SAM\AppData\Local\Temp\WERC071.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
C:\Users\SAM\AppData\Local\Temp\WERC591.tmp.appcompat.txt
C:\Users\SAM\AppData\Local\Temp\WERC830.tmp.hdmp
C:\Users\SAM\AppData\Local\Temp\WERCA92.tmp.mdmp
These files may be available here:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue\AppCrash_iTunes.exe_171b7d45c933d21c4b62ae64e2849e6c61e7ec2f_cab_07a8cc53
Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report Id: d1f86217-fe79-11d5-9dae-0018f3f5ef96
Report Status: 68
Any help is very appreciated!

Answer 1

Nowadays people don't back up to CD/DVD. They get an *external hard drive* and copy over their entire iTunes folder, and whatever else they are backing up.
The advantages are (1) this method does not depend on iTunes's horribly unreliable burning capability (2) you can look at the external and see that the stuff you backed up is really there. (If you want to see an unhappy person, it is when they try to restore from CD/DVD and discover that it did not burn correctly in the first place.) (3) it lets you back up your other valuable files besides your music.