How to get rid of the Mobile Me Preferences Control Panel Applet

I posted about Apple sneaking Mobile Me onto Windows computers in with an iTunes update. Well here's how to get rid of the applet in Windows.

Note: Although the item we’re uninstalling is called “Apple Mobile Device Support”, it’s only used for iPhones and the iPod Touch. If you have a regular iPod, then all of the drivers are already in Windows. This will not hurt your standard iPod.

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, don’t perform the steps below.

I saw the basics for this process here on A Small Slice of the Internet, but I wanted to test it out for myself, this way I could keep an eye out to see if it comes back.

First, open add / remove programs.

In Vista, click on Start > Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a Program

In XP, click on Start > Control Panel > Add / Remove Programs

In either operating system, find the icon labeled “Apple Mobile Device Support”

In Vista, Right click on it and Choose Uninstall. In Windows XP, click on it once, and then click on “Remove”.

In Vista you’ll have to tell UAC to allow it, and then it’s pretty straight forward. You may have to close some other applications, like iTunes and FireFox, but the uninstall doesn’t require any other inputs.

XP only confirms that you want to uninstall it, and then it gets rid of it.

If anyone experiences any problems with their iPods, let me know.