Hi guys,

preventing the DAW from internet connection could be important - especially for "us". When the DAW is blocked then no plugin can call home - and this is what we need.

The most easiest way is using the windows firewall! Why? It simply works! No 3rd party tool needed, which is mostly bloatware.

You can prevent every program from accessing the net with just a few clicks! Here's a very good tutorial on how to block net traffic - every dumbass should be able to understand it!
In this example "Sims 3" is blocked. It comes with 3 .exe files, so the guy is making 6 rules, 3 times for INCOMING traffic, 3 times for OUTGOING traffic.

Just redo the steps with your DAWs .exe (FLStudio, Live, Cubase, Reaper,...). If your host has more than 1 .exe files, you should consider to add the others too!

 

The best thing to do is make sure you're using a security suite with a firewall that allows you to put it into interactive mode where you can set communication rules. That way when a program requests access you can allow or deny and make a rule for the future.

 

i do as Catalyst said, everytime. And it works perfect

 

ZoneAlarm Pro is great for this or even the free version will do,
i use three firewalls and a proxy that runs true a proxy,
And the worst thing that can happen to you is your ip will be blocked from there web site

 

Yeah, littlesnitch is the best imho on Mac. Though some apps (adobe) need host file to be edited, as their calls can slip past firewalls.

 

Hello:

This program is great

Windows Firewall Control 4.1.0.2 Multilingual | 1.0 MB

Windows Firewall Control is a nifty little application which extends the functionality of the Windows Firewall and provides quick access to the most frequent options of Windows Firewall. It runs in the system tray and allows user to control the native firewall easily without having to waste time by navigating to the specific part of the firewall.

Windows Firewall Control offers four filtering modes which can be switched with just a mouse click:

High Filtering - All outbound and inbound connections are blocked. This setting blocks all attempts to connect to and from your computer.
Medium Filtering - Outbound connections that do not match a rule are blocked. Only programs you allow can initiate outbound connections.
Low Filtering - Outbound connections that do not match a rule are allowed. The user can block the programs he doesn't want to initiate outbound connections.
No Filtering - Windows Firewall is turned off. Avoid using this setting unless you have another firewall running on your computer.

Program Features
v Just one small executable file. All features are packed in the same file.
v Intuitive and easy accessible interface in the system tray.
v Full support with standard user accounts.
v Possibility to create temporary rules.
v Disable the ability of other programs to add Windows Firewall rules.
v Multiple and easier ways of creating new rules in Windows Firewall.
v Full support of creating, modifying and deleting Window Firewall rules.
v Lock feature which can disable the access to the settings of the program.
v Shell integration into the right click context menu of the executable files.
v Search for invalid rules with the possibility to delete them.
v Search for executable files through folders and create new rules in seconds.
v View recently blocked connections and create new rules from the log.
v Choose if you want the program to start at user logon.
v Import and export the settings of the program.
v Protection to unauthorized uninstallation.
v Possibility to restore previous settings at uninstallation.
v And many more. Just try it out.



OS : Compatible with all 32bit and 64bit versions of Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008
Language : Multilingual

Home Page - http://www.binisoft.org


you know where you can found it

 

The best way is not to connect to the internet

All these network services, firewalls and scanners etc are not good for audio processing

 

Agree with everything, everyone has said. I am an avid firewaller. Nothing can protect you better! Just wanted to add that sometimes it is NOT the DAW calling home. I have caught some plugins using the scan tool of the DAW to call home. So, like Cat said, having a 3rd party interactive tool is better, then you can choose and decide as it happens. While if you just block DAW only in windows firewall, sometimes a service or scan tool will call home and windows firewall won't alert you! And yes Zenarchist is right, having no internet on Audio PC would be the best. But not all of us can afford more than one computer to do that. Also, I loved Zone Alarm for years, got tired of pirating it all the time, now I just use free stuff, like Comodo Firewall.

 

I appreciate that but you still have other options like dual-boot and hot swappable hard drives etc

Running non-DAW related software and services is a major cause of audio glitches.

 

came here to say that.

why have other programs running in the background while working in your DAW just to keep software from communicating with the internet? just disable your internet connection. fast, simple, easy.

 

Yeah, and you can take your optimization a lot further, so I'd strip the OS down and duel boot or hot swap

 

Never pondered the dual OS option. I guessed that seemed like too much work for me. I do have internet on audio pc, but just to share files with other pc. I just run shitty free firewall and thats it to block call homes. I figure if you have bad ass enough computer you don't really need to worry about a few mb of ram to a cheesy firewall. Sometimes apps don't work right without net. Like the latest Bass Station wouldn't activate without internet connection. Tomato, tomato. Whatever works for you. It just seems like way to much effort to be hot swapping and copying files on thumb drives, I would personally rather sacrifice a few mb of ram to a firewall, than spend hours of my time avoiding it. But yes, not having any internet connection on pc would be ideal.

 

It's all to do with interrupts and how a general purpose OS is programmed, believe me you don't want any unwanted software or services running when working on real-time data no matter how powerful your machine is.

All critical real-time software applications are run on embedded systems, which should tell you something

It would be great if Wim/Mac brought out a dedicated audio version of their software but it will never happen

 

The idea of simply disengaging your computer from the Internet when running "call home" software is a very sound one. But, I've known quite a few people who "forget" to do this and suffered the consequences. The human mind can be unreliable at times... Personally, I use Comodo Firewall, and set the "Rules" options for DAWs and other "squeeler" type programs.

 

Yeah unplug the network card is hard???
Oh and b.t.w you can rightclick on the network icon (which you make an shortcut and place on the desktop) choose disable and then when you want to go inline again rightclick again and choose enable

 

Who said making a pc offline was hard??? And enabling/disabling network card kinda defeats the purpose of what everyone was talking about. You would still be using services and resources. And still be going online sometimes. Some people were talking about the cpu save they get by not having services running like tcpip, netbios, winsock, windows media player service, etc running on their pc. So using the internet periodically, enabling\disabling, would still leave all those services running and eating cpu. I was giving people with only one computer that have to use it online, ideas to make their life easier. Thank you for your criticism though.

 

Are you sure that nothing daw or music app related can call home, even if not running, when network card is enabled?

 

Using Tinywall for months and it's great. Only problem is Opera with its silent updates, for which Auto learn must be turned on *yes*

 

Sorry you said But not all of us can afford more than one computer to do that.
So why not unplug the network cable??
Then you offline when you make music it´s as simple as that no need to have firewalls and other stuff running in background.
And of course on my offline computer i also have alot services running in the background so i also have to tweak it for audio performance.

Hell i even had to install the network driver because i wanted some of my plugins to work and i also had to go online to install the Eventide Ultra Channel but as soon as that was done i unplugged the network card..
And then i shut down all services that is not needed before i open the Daw takes something like 20 sec or so..

But before when i only had one computer i had to do the enable/disable network and also had to use a background service tweakprogram that shut down everything but the most important stuff gamers have done that for ages to improve performance on their machines so why cant musician do it?