What is Bonjour and how do I get rid of the service?

by Pramith

When you browse through the list of installed programs on your computer, you often come across a service called “Bonjour”.

Bonjour from Apple: What is it actually?

Bonjour is installed via Apple products such as QuickTime, but mostly via iTunes. The installation goes unnoticed and cannot be avoided.

  • Bonjour is not a stand-alone program that you can actively use, but a service. This service runs invisibly in the background.
  • It is mainly used so that computers and devices that share their music can find each other automatically and by themselves. However, the service is not really helpful for Windows users.
  • Unfortunately, the service is also regarded as a security vulnerability and a source of problems. Many users report busy Internet connections for no reason, or even error messages relating to the connection. One more reason why you should uninstall the service

How to get rid of the Apple service

First try to remove the service via the Control Panel. As this does not completely delete all files, further steps must be taken:

  • Open the Control Panel and click on “Uninstall a program”
  • Select “Bonjour” from the list of installed programs, right-click and click on “Uninstall”.
  • Open the Start menu at the bottom left and enter “cmd” in the search bar. The program cmd.exe – the Windows command prompt – will now appear in the list.
    Right-click on it and select “Run as administrator” in the context menu. If you then confirm the prompt, the black console opens.
  • The following step differs for 32- and 64-bit systems. Therefore, check beforehand which variant you are using or simply type in both of the following commands.
  • Type the following commands into the console one after the other and confirm each with “Enter” (see image): 1. for 32-bit systems: “cd\Program Files\Bonjour”; For 64-bit systems: “cd\Program Files (x86)\Bonjour” 2. “mDNSResponder -remove” 3. “ren mdnsNSP.dll mdnsNSP.old ”
  • After a restart, the service should be deleted
  • To remove the last remnants, open the following paths in Windows Explorer and delete the folders named “Bonjour”. – C:\Program Files\ – C:\Program Files (x86)\
  • Bonjour should now be completely removed from your computer. However, updating or reinstalling iTunes or QuickTime may allow the service to get back onto your computer unnoticed.

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