Do You Turn Your AntiVirus Off When Using Your DAW?

[chk071]

I have been antivirus free for like 10 years, haven't catch anything, way more important to not visit and download stuff from shady sites.

I will argue like some people here now:

How can you even be sure that you didn't catch anything if you don't have an antivirus??!?



Totally +1 your point, by the way. User behavior is much more important than security software. If the user isn't safe, security software can't even clean up in most cases.

[Teksonik]

On a site where we routinely download dynamic linked libraries (often from new and unknown developers) that can easily contain malicious payloads it's surprising there haven't been more wonky .dlls over the years.

"Dynamic-Link Libraries (DLLs) and the way the Windows API is instructed to use them may be utilized as an interface for arbitrary code execution and assist malicious actors to achieve their goal".

https://www.cynet.com/attack-techniques ... n-hurt-us/

So "safety" is not just about staying away from porn or warez sites.

You could have a keylogger and never know it:

"Keyloggers are built for the act of keystroke logging — creating records of everything you type on a computer or mobile keyboard. These are used to quietly monitor your computer activity while you use your devices as normal. Keyloggers are used for legitimate purposes like feedback for software development but can be misused by criminals to steal your data".

Windows being the most well known key logger.

Ransomware would be of concern for those of us who have computers full of song files, presets, sample libraries and other personal files related to our music making activities.

Having said all that I only use Microsoft Defender on my Studio computer and no I do not turn it off but do use Bitdefender Total Security on this system since it does all the web surfing, email, and social media duties. I also use it as a test machine before moving anything to the studio system.

I've never had a problem. But either way whether you run naked across the internet or not it's probably down to luck as much as anything.

[rod_zero]

I have been antivirus free for like 10 years, haven't catch anything, way more important to not visit and download stuff from shady sites.

I will argue like some people here now:

How can you even be sure that you didn't catch anything if you don't have an antivirus??!?



Totally +1 your point, by the way. User behavior is much more important than security software. If the user isn't safe, security software can't even clean up in most cases.

You have a point, I do have one AV, windows defender, I do run it form time to time. But it definitely doesn't behave like the commercial AV software, way less intrusive.

As for how do I know, maybe you are right and I got something, my comparison would be to my parents computers which I can see how much strange stuff gets installed and how slow they get.

[chk071]

Don't worry, you probably have nothing at all. The "invisible threat" and the risk of getting infected is, like most things these days, highly exaggerated.