Music Store Connects Early AM, Freezes Later w/ 100% CPU Usage

Question

Hi,
I connect to the internet using Hughesnet satellite (formerly Direcway). An important aspect of satellite, for any would-be troubleshooters of my problem, is that there is a time-lag from request to response of up to 1000ms (which is different than the <100ms response time of dsl or cable). Actual download speeds, however, are comparable.
Here's my problem. When I load iTunes and go to the Music Store, the main music store page loads fine. In the early AM (when I assume traffic on both the satellite AND Music Store is less), when I click on a "genre" (in this case, TVShows), it goes to the TV Shows page and I can buy another episode of "24".
But later in the day, after say 10 or 11AM EDT, when I click on a genre, it shows "Accessing Music Store" at the top and the horizontal 'barber shop pole' bar just turns and turns, without switching to the access progress bar. This can go on for quite a while (I've let it run for at least 15 minutes) and the only way to stop it is to end the iTunes process in Windows Task Manager. Also, if I go in to Windows Task Manager when iTunes is trying to access the Music Store, the iTunes CPU usage is a steady 99-100%.
I'm running iTunes 6.0.4.2, which is, I believe, the latest. I'm running AVG Antivirus and Kerio Personal Firewall, and have tried a couple of times with both of these off. Same result. I've also uninstalled and reinstalled iTunes.
I found this thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=473475
which seems to discuss a similar problem (Ok connecting in morning, nothing later in day) that turned out to be related to a specific ISP in the UK.
In the case of Hughesnet (or any satellite), this may be a combination of iTunes/Music Store possibly needing some quick handshake as part of a security protocol, and a satellite connection getting a little too slow to execute the handshake as traffic picks up. I don't know, just a thought.
But I DON'T think its on my computer - firewall, anti-virus or spyware - since it will connect during real low traffic houses (e.g. 7AM).
Any suggestions anyone can make would be much appreciated.
Thanks

Answer 1

I'm running LR with no speed issues on an Intel 17-860 quad core with about the same performance as your AMD Phenom II X6 1045T Processor. My system is also an HP, which originally had a single 1TB 7200 HDD. I've since added a second 2TB Black Caviar HDD, which provided no significant difference in LR's performance.
AMD processors do not implement hyper-threading and don't need it. I'd start debug by process of elimination:
1) Disconnect all externally attached USB, FireWire, or other externally connected devices except keyboard, mouse, and your single 1280 x1024 display. This includes all externally attached memory card readers, phones, ipads, etc.
2) Reboot and logon as Administrator.
3) Remove your Internet connection and turn off all Antivirus and firewall programs.
4) Open LR and under Catalog Settings set 'Standard Preview Size' to 1440 (slightly larger than your display width). Under the Metadata tab here make sure 'Automatically Write changes into XMP is NOT checked.
4) Create a 'New Catalog,' Create a new folder and add about 10 raw image file copies to it for testing, and Import it into the new catalog. In the Import module make sure under File Handling 'Render Previews' has 1:1 selected. Wait until all Preview building has completed in the Library module.
Try editing these image files inside the new catalog as you were previously.