Sudden problem with iTunes quitting - problem and solution

Question

This is a fairly lengthy diatribe but it was driving me nuts and so hopefully will help someone else:
The Problem:
I have an XPS M1710 running Windows Vista. A couple of days ago all Apple programs started to malfunction, specifically iTunes, QuickTime. When I try to start iTunes it quits immediately and I get the message “A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available”. The same thing happens with Quicktime. When I go to Internet Explorer this works fine until I go to the Apple website and try to Download iTunes (to reinstall) or even to go to the Apple Support page, Then the Apple site seems to “force” IE to quit. The same thing happens when I use the Apple Safari Browser (works generally but quits on Apple iTunes or support site). I am not sure if it is relevant but we bought some iTunes songs online in the last couple of days using another laptop. That machine is still working fine as are two other laptops in the house re iTunes (they are Windows XP Dells, my machine is Windows Vista). I received an email receipt on my XPS for the purchases in the usual fashion. I can open it, but when I click the links to the iTunes site it doesn’t work (does work using other computers).
I have performed 2 system restores (to 2 and 4 weeks ago – long before the current problem) but this did not help. I have uninstalled iTunes – but even so still could not directly download the iTunes setup.exe from Apple. I did eventually get it from a third party link. Using the downloaded file I reinstalled iTunes but exactly the same problems persist. On one occasion I let the “A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available” dialogue box sit for a while – the system identified some Apple updates needed which I downloaded and installed (in fact I had done these probably a week or so ago anyway but the system restore would have reverted that). This still did not fix the problem.
Today I phoned XPS support. I was initially told to leave my number and someone would call me back. 2 hours later no-one had so I phoned again and got someone who suggested doing a full scan disk (ie by getting into diagnostics at startup by pressing F12). I did this – no problems found. The person had also suggested trying to access iTunes using a different logon account. I switch on “guest” account and tried from there but the same problem persisted.
I have checked Windows Defender and Windows Firewall and as far as I can see iTunes is allowed to access the internet. No sign that it is deliberately blocked. As far as I can tell from the Windows updater the system is up to date (as it was when the problem first happened, and not fixed by rolling back many updates via the system restores).
I have run a full Virus check using Kaspersky (with latest updated database) and nothing was found.
So, no matter what I try, my computer is suddenly blocking everything to do with iTunes (and Quicktime), including Apple’s own support site. The failure of iTunes or QuickTime to launch happens whether or not I am connected to the Internet at the time. All other programs seem to be working.
I would be very appreciative if you could help. I have been unable to find any online solution, although one person may have had a similar problem, no resolution was evident.
The solution:
I have only just now solved the problem (two weeks down the track). The Dell technician that I spoke to over the phone tried hard but we could not get the issue solved completely, although the problem with accessing the iTunes website we did solve by turning off some internet explorer add-ons. As it turned out the problem was with QuickTime. The clue was that although I had attempted to uninstall iTunes + Quicktime many times the QuickTime component never disappeared. So when I reinstalled iTunes + QuickTime (which I did many times) the problem remained. After again uninstalling iTunes + QuickTime (by going to control panel, selecting iTunes and uninstall, then QuickTime and unintstall in the usual way, and realising that QuickTime did not uninstall properly, I then selected QuickTime and chose the "repair" option at the top of the control panel dialogue box instead of uninstall. After that I was then able to open QuickTime properly, and then when I reinstalled iTunes it worked! This had been driving me nuts, and I was on the verge of re-installing the operating system. Can I suggest that you enter this solution into your database for future reference.

Answer 1

I was wondering if you ever fixed this problem? Today I went to open itunes and it started installing it and said it couldn't access the file ja.lproj/ea0423.rtf which would be the Japanese language version. I just wanted to know if I should do what was suggested to you or if that didn't work.