iTunes sync process

Question

I find the whole iTunes sync process very confusing..

I have an iPod touch and an iPad, which I generally want to sync using my MAC Mini and my PC (Windows XP). I have only 1 iTunes account though for all devices..

Now my question is; 1. How do I ensure that downloaded things like apps do not get erased from my iDevices whenever I sync (sometimes I notice unwanted apps coming after syncing)

1. How do I manage the 2 computers and once I format any of the machine, it recoginzes the same PC as a new device. How do I fix this ?

2. With the launch of IOS5, is there some change in the syncing process ?

Answer 1

1. When the device is connected to your computer, select it under Devices in the iTunes sidebar, choose "Apps" and enable/disable any apps that you (don't) want to sync. There's also an option "Automatically sync new apps" that you may want to disable if you don't want to sync new apps automatically.

2. You need to deauthorize the machine before doing that (in iTunes: Store > Deauthorize this Computer...). If you've already used up your five computer limit, you can also deauthorize all computers at once: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1420

3. iOS 5 is still in beta and under NDA, so I can't answer that question in detail. But from what Apple said in the (public) keynote: devices will be able to sync wirelessly and sync to iCloud without any computer attached to them.