Arthur was not deterred. He knew the trick. He changed his search: “iTunes 12.10.11 Windows 7 legacy.”

He nodded. He had prepared for this. From a folder labeled “Keep,” he installed a single, crucial security patch from 2019—KB4474419. A reboot. The machine whirred back to life.

He opened Google Chrome—an ancient version, its icon a faded blue and red marble. He typed: “download iTunes on Windows 7.”

A single, quiet link appeared on Apple’s own support forum. The last official version. He clicked. The download began slowly, a thin green line crawling across his taskbar. When it finished, he ran the installer. A warning popped up: “This program requires a missing update.”