Onlydarksets

When the iPhone syncs, iTunes will often perform a backup that is excruciatingly slow.  Mac users have an “easy” (i.e., available to anyone) way to prevent iTunes from doing backups.  A less publicized version of the same method exists for Windows:

1. Quit iTunes.
2. Press Win+R (opens the Windows Run dialog)
3. Type or copy the following command:
   “%CommonProgramFiles%AppleMobile Device Supportbindefaults.exe” write com.apple.iTunes AutomaticDeviceBackupsDisabled -bool true
4. Open iTunes.
5. Connect the iPhone.
6. Make Sync without backing up.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to use the command line, a company I have never heard of has released an application called “iPhone Backup Switch“.  As the name implies, it simply turns off or on iTunes’ iPhone backup process.

If neither of those work, there is also a method that involves editing the iTunesPref.xml file.