Greetings all,
I thought this might save someone else some hair loss.
I had considerable problems today trying to get iTunes (v12.10.3.1) to sync my kids iPad; it was saying "This iPad has never been backed up on this computer" and the storage bargraph didn't show a breakdown of the iPad storage contents. (If you've seen iTunes in action, this will be familiar.) The "Backup Now" button was greyed out, as was the "Encrypt Local Backup" checkbox.
Tried a new iPad cable, restarting everything, repair installing iTunes, then I remembered that I'm trialling Malwarebytes Premium.
(Thanks to the Malwarebytes forum post "iTunes says 'Bonjour' to Ransomware as attackers exploit Zero-Day" by "exile360", whoever you are. )
On MWB, add an exception for this folder "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support" and exclude from ransomware detection only.
On my system at least, this seems to have got iTunes sync working.
(I don't like excluding the whole folder; if I can figure out which files, aside from ATH.exe and ATH_main.dll, I'll post back here.)
(And, Malwarebytes seems to be fine, I just had to learn how to use it. )
Hope this helps someone, and of course, "your mileage may vary".
Roger V.