iTunes Store Temporarily Unavailable - How I Fixed It

I recently had to rebuild my laptop by reloading the O/S and ran into an issue where iTunes would not allow me to log into my account.  The error in my Windows 8 install kept saying that the iTunes Store was Temporarily Unavailable.  At first I dismissed the issue as a maintenance deal on Apple's side, but after a couple of weeks, I decided to look more into the problem.  I did everything from checking my local firewall to flushing my DNS cache and nothing seemed to work.  I also updated my payment information to no avail.  I ended up finding a solution that worked for me.  It's listed as working for Windows 7, but I can confirm that it works for Windows 8 as well.  Without further ado, here is the fix:

1. Quit iTunes (and Safari if installed)
2. Enable "hidden files, folders and drives"
3. Navigate to C:\Users\YourProfile\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\Cookies *
4. Delete all contents in the "Cookies" folder
5. Launch iTunes
6. Log on to your iTunes account

These were the steps that finally allowed me to log on to iTunes.

 * Substitute "YourProfile" for whatever username applies to you.

Starbucks Secret Menu

For those of you that are caffeine addicts such as myself, you might want to visit the Starbucks secret menu website. This site contains a user created menu that might give you some ideas for your next order.  Without further ado - http://starbuckssecretmenu.net/.

.NET Framework 3.5 Install on Windows 8

If you're like me and you're trying to run some applications that rely on .NET Framework 2.0 - 3.5 on Windows 8, you might be surprised to find out that it's a separate install. Instead of spending time trying to download that feature off the web, the easiest way to go about it is to insert the DVD or mount the ISO on your Windows 8 client. You can run the following command and it will take care of installing the legacy versions of .NET for you.  This command needs to be run from an elevated command prompt.

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /All /Source:X:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess

Substitute your appropriate drive letter in place of X: for it to work. The install will take around 10 minutes, depending on the specs of your computer.

All credit goes to a member of Anandtech forums. The original thread can be found here.