Hi, all,

Been around the scene since the Radium days, and as you all know, there's that antivirus warning that we will often get from keygens and such. I know that a lot of them are false positives, but sometimes, they're not. I've scanned some that do give a specific virus name, and I have gotten hit a few times, once with a bitcoin miner. I do have Zone Alarm and Malwarebytes running all the time and I do scan everything.

How do you all deal with this? I think it's a real gamble, but I've gotten burned more often in the last few years, and I tend to not install as much as I used to. For example, the Native Helix 3.5 that just came out (can't remember the cracker) came up as a positive, as did a recent NI Effects bundle. I decided not to install, but damn, I'd really like to.

How do you all figure it out? I see a lot of people in the forums just say 'don't worry 'bout it', but viruses, malware, etc have always been part of this scene. What do you all do? How do you balance the want for a program with the safety aspect? I know, 'buy the original' is an answer, but who are we kidding, here? Is there any real way to figure out what is malicious and what's a false positive? I understand the nature of keygens and why they get false positives, but that doesn't make me feel better about it.

Thanks!

 

a Mac

 

Okay, I set myself up for that one.

 

Sister site.

 

Not sure I'm following you.

 

By looking after my Windows machine and being able to tell if something goes wrong.
Also by not downloading from piss knows where or piss knows what.
We all know the trusted release groups and trusted uploaders here.
Didn't have any malware for almost two decades now, and the last one I had was from a n infected USB drive with study tasks one of my coeds gave me. Removed it manually, told him he's stinky.

 

I think the trusted release groups only take us so far when those releases are available in many places with the ability to be modified. A lot of those false positives do come from trusted groups, which is what makes it rather confusing.

I'm trying to avoid something going wrong in the first place.

 

About time, Profile page top right.

Other than that, warez from sister are not always perfect but I've never heard one has been infected.

 

Not sure what I'm looking for. On my profile page, I see the settings, and on the top right I see a search box.

 

Precisely, on my, not yours.

 

I am into this since the very first days in 1999 I think. Download from reliable sources (sister site, ru-something, the names of the old sites I have forgotten).

In my experience ALL the times virus alerts were false positives. I never - NEVER - had a virus. So stick to the sister site, mag-something, ru-something and the likes, where the community immediately reacts if there is something fishy.

 

Follow button? Okay. Not seeing anything about the sister site, though.

 

Well the code written in those files or files don't have "The Digital Signature" or / and Copyright / Self Signed Certificate(s), so it will be flagged as an "False Positive"... this is the short story... the long version don't fit in a few "forum posts" | N-Joy !!

 

I was just kidding about following, that's what the was for.
PM sent.

 

Got it and responded, thanks.

 

The way I see things is pretty simple: No matter how badly I might want any 'free' software, I won't take the risk of an infection. I'm too lazy for that, I mean. So, any time I get a specifically named threat warning, that's a no-no for me. Period. All the rest, I might take the risk of false positives. My Comodo Antivirus has not failed me for many years, you know.

On the other hand, I've learned it ends being just a matter of time a new version, a nicer alternative or even another group's release of that beloved piece of software appears somewhere. And I'm certainly a patient guy by now, I guess.

Anyway, good luck for everybody ... when ignoring warnings.

Cya!

 

That's more or less the approach I've been taking. I also do a total scan after I've installed and run the programs.

 

I try not to think about it too much. What are they goong to steal/remove from my computer? Dickpics and half cooked projects? Enjoy NewProject1_V155Final(forreal).rpp, better luck unseeing my browser history.

Seriously though, i keep the important stuff away from cracks or easy to steal things, just in case. In any case, there are sites that are more trustworthy than others, just stick to the good ones.

 

Does our sister site get the software directly from the cracking group? That would certainly make a big difference in trustworthiness.

 

I know that the stuff I get from a certain few sites is clean, as only serious music people hang out there and the names of people or groups creating the patches and keygens are familiar.
So when there's a keygen involved, I turn off my virus checker while installing, then switch it back on. Done this many hundreds of times.