** Beware of SpinEQ on the new CM (CM78) **

[Derek up North]

I've just received CM78 which comes with a free copy of SpinEQ. I ran the setup program on the CD and ...

IT WIPED MY VSTPLUGINS FOLDER

To be more precise it deleted all .dll files in the folder I was installing into (the usual steinberg\vstplugins one).

They're not in the recycle bin and I have no "rollback" software (unless some kind sole tells me that I get that automatically with WinXP?).

I have a whole load of reinstalling/reauthorising to do now.

I've raised this on the CM forum (http://forum.midiaddict.com/viewtopic.p ... 746#431746) so let's see what they come up with but in the meantime just be careful out there...

Regards,

Derek.

[topaz]

how can installing remove stuff ?

you sure you didnt, install then uninstall forgetting not to remove your vst plugin folder ?

I've just received CM78 which comes with a free copy of SpinEQ. I ran the setup program on the CD and ...

IT WIPED MY VSTPLUGINS FOLDER

To be more precise it deleted all .dll files in the folder I was installing into (the usual steinberg\vstplugins one).

They're not in the recycle bin and I have no "rollback" software (unless some kind sole tells me that I get that automatically with WinXP?).

I have a whole load of reinstalling/reauthorising to do now.

I've raised this on the CM forum (http://forum.midiaddict.com/viewtopic.p ... 746#431746) so let's see what they come up with but in the meantime just be careful out there...

Regards,

Derek.

[aMUSEd]

Just the dll's? Did it leave everything else then - that's weird

I've heard of viruses doing this.

[Derek up North]

Just the dll's? Did it leave everything else then - that's weird

I've heard of viruses doing this.

The folder only had .dlls in it - I keep everything else related to the plugins (patches, pdf's etc) in subfolders with the plugin name. All of these subfolders were still there.

Amazingly enough my own post made me think for a moment and sure enough, WinXP does have a system restore tool which I've never got round to turning off, so I've been able to restore back to earlier today. I never thought I'd say this, but ....

"Thank you Bill Gates, you're not entirely odious"



Now to redo everything I've done since 09:50 this morning (the last restore point) and, of course, to take a backup before every single install in future

Regards,

Derek.

[topaz]

again did it remove all your plugins by just one single install?

or did you install then de-install ?

cheers
topaz

Just the dll's? Did it leave everything else then - that's weird

I've heard of viruses doing this.

The folder only had .dlls in it - I keep everything else related to the plugins (patches, pdf's etc) in subfolders with the plugin name. All of these subfolders were still there.

Amazingly enough my own post made me think for a moment and sure enough, WinXP does have a system restore tool which I've never got round to turning off, so I've been able to restore back to earlier today. I never thought I'd say this, but ....

"Thank you Bill Gates, you're not entirely odious"



Now to redo everything I've done since 09:50 this morning (the last restore point) and, of course, to take a backup before every single install in future

Regards,

Derek.

[headquest]

Now to redo everything I've done since 09:50 this morning (the last restore point) and, of course, to take a backup before every single install in future

Regards,

Derek.

System Restore doesn't effect documents, email, etc. so you shouldn't have lost other work

Also it automatically creates restore points, without you needing to "back up" manually, so it is quite a useful system tool.

[Derek up North]

[quote="topaz"]again did it remove all your plugins by just one single install?

or did you install then de-install ?

cheers
topaz


Yup - just one install, no deinstall. The only thing I did during the install was to change the target directory from the one offered for the dll to my steinberg\vstplugins directory and to create a steinberg\vstplugins\SpinEQ directory when prompted for a directory for the install files.

The only thing I can think of is that the installer expects an empty directory for its temporary install files but that it failed to create the "SpinEQ" subfolder so it put the temp files in the main steinberg\vstplugins folder and then conveniently tidied that up afterwards (I once worked on a software support helpdesk so I'm used to wild leaps of imagination!).

One thing's for sure - I'm not trying it again to find out!

Regards,

Derek.

[topaz]

well, in a nutshell.

thats really f**king lame.

Yup - just one install, no deinstall. The only thing I did during the install was to change the target directory from the one offered for the dll to my steinberg\vstplugins directory and to create a steinberg\vstplugins\SpinEQ directory when prompted for a directory for the install files.

The only thing I can think of is that the installer expects an empty directory for its temporary install files but that it failed to create the "SpinEQ" subfolder so it put the temp files in the main steinberg\vstplugins folder and then conveniently tidied that up afterwards (I once worked on a software support helpdesk so I'm used to wild leaps of imagination!).

One thing's for sure - I'm not trying it again to find out!

Regards,

Derek.

[Spe3D]

He is correct too – thanks for pointing this out Derek – going to save a lot of people a lot of problems if they get to read this thread.

It deletes all files in the target directory on install but not sub directories in the target path (also gives a fail message if installing from the cd-rom (cannot copy dll – contact support) I am sure lots of people will be doing just that. (win 2K sp4)

Actually my install has failed to include an uninstall facility, so that's a bit of fun to remove.

Best regards,

Spe3d

:O)

[Derek up North]

He is correct too – thanks for pointing this out Derek – going to save a lot of people a lot of problems if they get to read this thread.

It deletes all files in the target directory on install but not sub directories in the target path (also gives a fail message if installing from the cd-rom (cannot copy dll – contact support) I am sure lots of people will be doing just that. (win 2K sp4)

Actually my install has failed to include an uninstall facility, so that's a bit of fun to remove.

Best regards,

Spe3d

:O)

Feel free to cross post anywhere relevant. I stick to KvR for my computer music-related lurking and only visited the CM forums to let them know (no response yet - I get the feeling that the metaphorical wind is whistling gently as the tumbleweeds progress down Main Street in those forums (fora??)).

If anyone thinks it would help to inform any other communities then go ahead - the next person might not be as lucky as I was.

Regards,

Derek.

[Hengy]

thanks for the warning Derek, was just about to install
when i read this, and i'd have put it right in my vst dir just like you did

[Rozzer]

I foolishly downloaded an installer that did exactly this once. I thought it was a freeware plug, but all it did was delete all dlls in my vstplugins folder. I told myself it was my own stupid fault for downloading things from Kazaa without thinking

I'm suprised something like that made it onto a cover cd though

[headquest]

I'm suprised something like that made it onto a cover cd though

I'm not .

I am an avid CM reader, but I rarely bother with the CD.

Fact is, the CM Studio is irrelevant to anyone who has a decent DAW, and it's not about to replace Tracktion, Audition, Live 4 or Reason in my line up. Most of it's plug-ins are also a pain -in-the-arse... the only use I can think of for them is for learning general principals in conjunction with the tutorials given (although I'm thinking that the CM vocoder may be an exception to the rule.)

Last month's CD is an interesting example, though. I wanted the Live 4 demo, as I had not made up my mind about whether to get it or not. It installed just fine thank you very much. While I was looking I also installed the Kjaerhus Golden effects plugs, which... blew me away. I liked the Classic fx they produce, but nothing prepared me for the Golden EQ - simply stunning. Then I installed Sytrus demo, too. Again, thanks for that - a great piece of work (but I shalln't be forking out for it). So far so good...

Then I checked out Sampletank2 Free. Now there's a piece of S**t if ever I saw one. It crashed my PC no less than 3 times in swift succession before I uninstalled it AND did a full system restore. (There's another thread dealing with the problems loads of people have had with this pile of do-do's)

Then the Reflex CM Demo. I was skeptical that it could compete with the likes of ReCycle (what a beautiful piece of software that is!) but thought I'd give it a go. To cut a long story short, it simply wouldn't install at all.

Whenever you insert a CD off the cover of a magazine you are taking a risk. Some stuff will be a revelation, some stuff will be a basic waste of your time, and some stuff might completely screw up your PC.

Thanks again for the warning about SpinEQ. The screen-shot in CM77 looked like this was an easy-to-use and good effect - suitable for my students, perhaps. I would definitely have installed it - and suffered.

CM magazine editorial are partly to blame because they really should check out the stuff on the CD more thoroughly than they obviously do.

Spin Audio are the real villains of the piece though, because they supplied the programme... and if it turns out to be a virus... well I for one won't be visiting their site!!

[mckenic]

Lucky escape there Derek!

Phew!

Surprised CM would let something like this slip thru without some sort of warning...


Cheers,
Dave

[MrM]

I always make a copy using Winrar of my VST folder after installing one (or a couple of) plugin, besides that, I copy the original executable into a seperate folder (mydocs\installed-vst or mydocs\installed-vsti), and I make a ghost after some installed plugins.

Me is paranoid, and short of diskspace