Avoid Analog Obsession at all costs!

[jochicago]

Come on now....even Analog Obsession ADMITTED the files were infected.

I give up.....

Yes, this part of the conversation has been a treat. At no point there was any question that the files were infected. AO spoke on the subject and said the files had to be reuploaded. There are screenshots of malware scans, we had multiple people scanning all the files, etc.

It's odd to watch someone try to explain an alternative reality, and I for one welcome continued efforts. But I don't understand why people go to this length to defend what happened, using fantasy when the truth won't work. That's some strong brand loyalty.

[scalawag]

So unzipping them installed all that malware? What software have you used to unzip?

Are you really trying to say it's the the fault of the program that was used to unzip the file THAT WAS KNOWN TO CONTAIN MALWARE ?

Come on now....even Analog Obsession ADMITTED the files were infected.

I give up.....

I was trolling!
And i NEVER said the files were not infected!
About your case:
You said on the other thread that you didn't have an antivirus running when you downloaded AO zip file, and you installed your Bitdefender license to scan the computer AFTER you discovered the zip file was infected. That make me think i'm right about what i said. You might have being infected during the time you didn't have an anti virus running, way before downloading AO zip file.
AO might not be the only responsible for your malware infection after all.

[scalawag]

thecontrolcentre wrote: ↑Sun Feb 23, 2020 10:56 pm
You didn't quote all the info from my post.

Program:Win32/Unwasson.Alml

Items:
<file:C:\Users\Dave\Downloads\AO Equalizers\SSQ 3.0\SSQ_3.0_VST_WIN\SSQ.dll.32\SSQ.dll>
<file:E:\Temp\Analog Obsession\AO Equalizers\SSQ 3.0\SSQ_3.0_VST_WIN\SSQ.dll.32\SSQ.dll>
<file:I:\BACKUPS\VST Plugins\Free VST\64 bit VST Plugins\Analog Obsession\AO Equalizers\SSQ 3.0\SSQ_3.0_VST_WIN\SSQ.dll.32\SSQ.dll>

Items:
containerfile:C:\Users\Dave\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\fey95g4e.default\cache2\entries\0C350065219505450D958784F344B8103A0565C7
file:C:\Users\Dave\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\fey95g4e.default\cache2\entries\0C350065219505450D958784F344B8103A0565C7->SSQ.dll.32.zip->SSQ.dll


Trojan:Win32/Spursint.Flcl

Items:
containerfile:C:\Users\Dave\AppData\Local\Temp\Temp1_Harqules_2.0_VST_WIN.zip\Harqules.dll.64.zip
file:C:\Users\Dave\AppData\Local\Temp\Temp1_Harqules_2.0_VST_WIN.zip\Harqules.dll.64.zip->Harqules.dll


I understood that these locations are where the malware files Program:Win32/Unwasson.Alml & Trojan:Win32/Spursint.Flcl were found and removed by Defender. Please correct me if I've misunderstood.
the 'other' locations which I didn't bother to quote are your downloads folder, the place you backed up the .zip archive to and the place where you unzipped the .dll to - but you were implying that 'somehow' the virus had 'infected' your appdata folder as well - I was pointing out that this was NOT the case and the files you reference in appdata are the mozilla cache and the temp directory (both of which contain a copy of the .zip file from downloading it).
Got ya. Thanks for explaining.

[scalawag]

Case closed. The zip file DID NOT INFECT your PC!
Having the files on the hard drive on some temp or cache directory doesn't mean the malware was running!

[CrystalWizard]

Omg, are you serious? Case closed alright, you aren’t very knowledgeable on the subject, but “i was trolling.” Explains it.

[revvy]

AO defenders should probably just leave this thread alone, it's going a bit Streisand.

[scalawag]

Yes case closed. Some users are acting as if they have been stolen by him.

They are bashing Tunca and making a drama because they received a zip file full of malware that was detected ON TIME and BEFORE doing any harm. Receiving a zip file with malware is very different from being infected. Infected means the PC was compromised! That was not the case to any of them. I'm sure they have found a lot more files with Malware on their computers that didn't come from AO. The internet is full of it.
OF COURSE IT'S BAD TO RECEIVE A FILE FULL OF MALWARE. I'm not defending Tunca by any means.
But Tunca solved the problem on time and explained what was the problem. Move on!
They just don't like the guy. Period

[an-electric-heart]

I'm just going to ask something, sorry if I sound naive... I really don't know much about the subject. I'm using a bunch of Analog Obsession plugins now. When you download one of his plugins, it's just a zip file containing a dll., and you pop the dll. in your vst folder, they don't even have an installer. How can that infect your computer? I thought malware would need to secretly install during the install, how can you get infected from a straight forward dll.?
I'm not being a smart-ass, I'm genuinely asking, I'm obviously a little naive when it comes to deep computer stuff.
I'll just add, I've missed all the drama surrounding A.O over the years, all I know is that I grabbed a couple of his plugs a week or so ago, and I'm using them, they're not terrible... now I see all this. I don't want to come off as a defender if he really has done all this stuff, just saying, if like me you were unaware of his history, the plugins seem fine (even good!)... not taking sides, just thought I'd throw my two cents in.

[jochicago]

dll files in windows are executable files. They are basically not very different from an .exe file in that they are made up of instructions and algorithms just like an executable file. The main difference is that an exe can be called up directly by you with a double click, and a dll file is called up by a host (like the DAW). But once called up they essentially have the same power to run their code which can be anything. So its wise to think of dll files as being about as dangerous as an exe file.

[an-electric-heart]

dll files in windows are executable files. They are basically not very different from an .exe file in that they are made up of instructions and algorithms just like an executable file. The main difference is that an exe can be called up directly by you with a double click, and a dll file is called up by a host (like the DAW). But once called up they essentially have the same power to run their code which can be anything. So its wise to think of dll files as being about as dangerous as an exe file.

Ok. Cool. I actually understood that. I'll give my computer a scan and see if it finds anything.

[claudedefaren]

dll files in windows are executable files. They are basically not very different from an .exe file in that they are made up of instructions and algorithms just like an executable file. The main difference is that an exe can be called up directly by you with a double click, and a dll file is called up by a host (like the DAW). But once called up they essentially have the same power to run their code which can be anything. So its wise to think of dll files as being about as dangerous as an exe file.

Bingo.

[MogwaiBoy]

What's a good anti-virus/anti-malware app that's suitable for a one-off deep scan of your drives? I have a major one on my laptop and it takes about 10 minutes to boot into Windows, update itself and settle the F down before I can do anything. The notifications are annoying, it's constantly trying to rope me into a subscription and is a total resource hog.

What's a good free one to download, run a scan, and then uninstall (clean, without leaving junk all over my C drive)?

PS. I had a few "Diamond Series" AO plugins in my download folder and a couple of them were infected according to virustotal.com. These are not the new ones downloaded from his new Patreon, but are ones downloaded from the User Area of his old website... Lucky I hadn't used them on this workstation, but I did use them on my laptop before... maybe that's what killed the OS I'm really annoyed and disappointed that these files have been on my hard drive without AO informing me hey, just want to let you guys (customers) know...

So what if the new Patreon builds are all clean - the damage is done, the files are out there and as of earlier this week were on my hard drive. It's not a hoax as some defenders are portraying, and as a paying customer I should have been informed of an unwanted threat to my system. He obviously spent a lot of time getting himself back up and running again on Patreon but spent zero hours and zero minutes emailing his customers to warn them.

[an-electric-heart]

What's a good anti-virus/anti-malware app that's suitable for a one-off deep scan of your drives? I have a major one on my laptop and it takes about 10 minutes to boot into Windows, update itself and settle the F down before I can do anything. The notifications are annoying, it's constantly trying to rope me into a subscription and is a total resource hog.

What's a good free one to download, run a scan, and then uninstall (clean, without leaving junk all over my C drive)?

PS. I had a few "Diamond Series" AO plugins in my download folder and a couple of them were infected according to virustotal.com. These are not the new ones downloaded from his new Patreon, but are ones downloaded from the User Area of his old website... Lucky I hadn't used them on this workstation, but I did use them on my laptop before... maybe that's what killed the OS I'm really annoyed and disappointed that these files have been on my hard drive without AO informing me hey, just want to let you guys (customers) know...

So what if the new Patreon builds are all clean - the damage is done, the files are out there and as of earlier this week were on my hard drive. It's not a hoax as some defenders are portraying, and as a paying customer I should have been informed of an unwanted threat to my system. He obviously spent a lot of time getting himself back up and running again on Patreon but spent zero hours and zero minutes emailing his customers to warn them.

Yip, anything like that that's free these days, isn't really free. It'll be limited and constantly and intrusively try and up-sell you to the "pro" version. I'd like to get real answers about the best free system tools as well. I've got Kaspersky and CC Cleaner installed as far as antivirus and disk cleaners go, but I found it very hard to get real answers. If you Google "Best free antivirus", you'll come up with lists, then you'll download and install things based on the fact that you think it's free, and it just doesn't work, in some cases they're not even limited, they straight up don't do a single thing until you're paying a monthly subscription, so often when something is "free", it might be free to download and install, but to do anything beyond that you need to pay... and there are soooooo many disk cleaners and antivirus programs that are like that, and the fact that they're recommended in lists of "best free" software when they aren't really free just makes me think that all the websites recommending said software is just on the take. Very hard to get real recommendations.

[jochicago]

What's a good anti-virus/anti-malware app

On Windows I use Bitdefender free. It's unobtrusive and doesn't nag. I also run Malwarebytes Pro along side. I specifically go with this combination because they can run at the same time without issues, so I have 2 things protecting the computer. Both of these are very good and are highly rated. Malwarebytes in particular is always tracking my browsing and stops some pages and malware ads about a couple times per month.

I would recommend everyone use at least Bitdefender free for an easy nag-free experience. The Windows defender is decent but not at the same rating last time I checked studies, Bitdefender is a good antivirus. There's also a free version of Malwarebytes that you can run with Bitdefnder so you can have the same dual protection I enjoy, but I don't know how naggy that free one would get since I have the pro version.

Also worth noting that having 2 antivirus/antimalware running at the same time may affect the performance of your PC's audio bandwith. I noticed my laptop crackles when I'm tracking at low samples and Malwarebytes decides to scan something at the same time. So you might want to test, and potentially snooze one or both of these guys when you are tracking.

[Distorted Horizon]

What's a good anti-virus/anti-malware app

Bitdefender

This