A lot of Windows users reported about Bonjour service running in the background on their Windows 10 computer. If you also have bonjour service running in the background on your computer, and what is bonjour service? Is it a virus? Is it safe to disable it? these questions come to your mind. Then you have come to the right place.
In this article, we are going to discuss the Apple Bonjour service, what are its uses, How to disable it, etc. in detail. So, check the below article to find answers to your queries.
What is Bonjour Service?
The Bonjour software is computer software developed by Apple Inc. This application is by default present in Apple’s operating system macOS, iOS, etc. It was first released 18 years ago in August 2002.
Even the Bonjour is software, but you can not use it directly like other computer applications. The bonjour software runs in the background for the software that requires bonjour for communication. for eg: safari, iTunes, etc.
Bonjour service by Apple provides zero-configuration networking between devices connected in the same local network. You can connect to printers, and other computers(if they support bonjour) using the bonjour service. By the way, if you don’t know, Bonjour means Hello in French
What does the Bonjour service do?
The Bonjour service uses a group of technologies like service discovery, address assignment, and hostname resolution to locate devices such as printers, other computers, and also the services offered by these devices on a local network using mDNS(multicast Domain Name System) service records.
In other words, it provides a general method to discover services in a small network. This service is mostly used to locate printers and file-sharing servers. This service also helps users to set up a network without any configuration.
Do we need Bonjour for Windows 10?
The question of whether you need bonjour for Windows depends on your requirement. That is if you want to share data or services from a Windows computer to a Windows computer then you don’t require bonjour software.
However, if you want to share the data from a Windows computer to a Mac then you require Bonjour service. Also, applications like Safari, iTunes, etc. require to bonjour to run their services so they will automatically install Bonjour on your system through wifi.
The Bonjour services are already present on the mac devices they do not need to install it from outside. But Windows users have the option to install Bonjour services on their system.
Related: Filrepmalware in Windows
Is Bonjour safe? Do we need to remove it?
As we know the Bonjour software is developed by Apple to ease out the sharing of data and services from a Mac computer to other operating system computers. So, the Bonjour software is not a virus and it is safe to be installed.
But before installing bonjour make sure it is from a trusted source because if you install it from any other source then there are chances that the file you are installing is virus masquerading as Bonjour software.
If you already have Bonjour installed on your system then you can remove it. But before removing it check if you don’t have any application that requires bonjour services to run because if you remove it then these apps might get affected and can misbehave.
How to install Bonjour on Windows 10:
Bonjour does not come as a standalone software like other software applications. That means to install Bonjour on your system you need to install software that supports Bonjour services. iTunes uses Bonjour services so you can use to install Bonjour on your system. Here are the steps to install Bonjour on your system
- Go to Apple’s website to download iTunes
- Download the 64-bit or 32-bit version of iTunes based on your operating system. The file must be nearly 200MB in size.
- After the download is complete go to the location where it is downloaded(Mostly in the downloads folder).
- Right-click on the file iTunes64Setup.exe or iTunes32Setup.exe file and extract it using Winrar.
- After the extraction is complete Double click on the Bonjour64.msi or Bonjour32.msi file
- Complete the installation process to successfully install Bonjour on your Windows 10 computer.
How to remove Bonjour from your Windows 10 computer:
The Bonjour service run in the background and provide their services to the applications that require them. They do not interfere with the other applications.
However, if you are facing trouble with the Bonjour service installed on your system then you can remove it in few simple steps. Removing Bonjour is a simple and easy process. Here are the steps to remove Bonjour from your system.
- Open search and type control panel and hit enter to launch the control panel application.
- Now, click on the uninstall a program text link under Programs
- Here, you will be listed all the software and services installed on your system
- Search for Bonjour. After you find it just tap on it and click on the uninstall button to remove it from your system.
Note: If you are removing the Bonjour software from your system because you don’t use it on daily basis then another thing that you can do is temporarily disable the Bonjour services rather than removing it permanently. Because if you remove it permanently and if you require Bonjour in the future then you will have to go through the hectic process of installing it. Here are the steps to temporarily stop the Bonjour services.
Temporarily disable Bonjour service in Windows 10:
Follow the below-mentioned steps if you don’t want to permanently remove bonjour from your system
- Press the key combination Windows + R to open the Run prompt. Next, type “services.msc” and hit enter.
- After you hit enter you will be taken to the services window.
- In that search for the bonjour services and Double-tap on it. It will take you to the Bonjour service properties window
- Now, under the Service status, you will find the option running. Click on the stop button below it to stop the Bonjour service.
- Click on Ok to exit the window. After that restart your computer.
- To restart the services just follow the same steps and in the Bonjour service properties window click on the start button.
Conclusion:
So in this article, we successfully discussed the Bonjour software, Its services, etc. We also discussed the queries Is Bonjour safe? How to install and uninstall it on Windows? We hope now you are clear about the Bonjour service and its application. Moreover, if you have any doubt regarding this topic you can reach out to us in the comment box we will be happy to help.