Original post edited for embarassing noobness - see date below.

I came across some stories on the Ableton forums about how cracked copies timebomb, modify the registry to prevent reinstallation of cracks, etc., until you purchase a legitimate license. So what did I do? I went digging, and what I found was this: there are two separate applications. I can't guarantee 100% all the little details here, because I only looked at this stuff for a couple minutes before I deleted it.

On windows go to %\ProgramData\Ableton\Live 9 Suite\Resources\Extensions

There you'll see Three folders: Index, Webconnector and Updater, each containing a unique application. Index is just the thing that finds your files right away in the browser, which is a nice little feature. The other two really don't serve any purpose if you're running an illegitimate copy and are nothing but a liability. (Note - possibly untrue, per ytraM post below)

I went into AppData and started poking around the temp files. Sure enough, logs of Webconnector calling home. Mine was a fresh install, so it's possible that this happens less often than it did on mine.
[To clarify, what I called 'calling home' I believe was WebConnector reporting that there was a previous installation of Suite when I installed the Intro copy, and something about the license, which of course, was a bogus license at the time]


[More edited for dumbness]


Anyway, Live is running fine without those apps. If you want to keep them, I suggest you block em with your firewall.

 

Last edited: Nov 3, 2015

Any sources?

Working with Ableton for five years now, having produced hundreds of tracks - never had any issue whatsoever. Just blocked the Live.dll with Win7-firewall - not because of Live, just because of VST dlls.

Ableton just tolerates the cracking of their product:

http://www.highsnobiety.com/2014/10/14/ableton-ceo-gerhard-behles-interview/

 

Sources? Not reliable ones. Just random people on the Ableton forums making claims that either they or a friend experienced this. I'll go and find a link.

For instance, a reply by leedsquietman halfway down this page and SubFunk a few posts down
https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=120299&start=45

 

on Mac, all you do is go to Preferences, go to the License/Update tab (or whatever its called.. can;t remember) and "turn off" Check for Updates, AND, Send User Information...

done... live happily ever after!!! and wait for them to fix PDC and maybe implement sanboxing (like Bitwig) then we buy it


I mean... I am almost 100% positive that I WILL buy ABleton... I use that and Logic... most of the time lately, I use Ableton simply for sample auditioning... and then just locate the samples in Logic, and do everything in there... or, make/design sounds in Ableton... record/consolidate (after I've saved the project in the same folder as the associated Logic project), then, I find these consolidated samples from inside Logic, and mix away.

 

OK just renmamed the two folders WebConnector and Updater and Live is still working. You can also disable indexer.exe this way. Just rename Index folder. That s it.

 

Why would you possibly want to disable the indexer? I'm very fond of the ability to search through my samples using an indexed database, waiting for ableton to crawl through the samples for every single search would kill any creative flow.

Yes, there are logs in the live's application-data directory ("appdata" is an extremely unprecise information btw.).
Have you bothered looking at them?
The first is the general ableton live log.txt There you can read

Code:

...
24598 ms. WebConnectStarter: Starting up
...
30797 ms. Performance: Startup hook 'StartWebConnector': Running time: 323 ms
...

The second occurrance is in the file wc.log:

Code:

INFO:2013-03-21 07:22:06,134:abl.webconnector.auto_updates:Checking for auto updates from 9.0.1
ERROR:2013-03-21 07:22:31,148:abl.webconnector.main:(10060, 'Operation timed out')
INFO:2013-03-21 23:15:36,957:abl.webconnector.auto_updates:Checking for auto updates from 9.0.1
ERROR:2013-03-21 23:15:41,930:abl.webconnector.main:(10061, 'Connection refused')

This fails to worry me.

p.s. an advice: just install a proper firewall with a good host-based intrusion prevention system like comodo and you won't have any unpleasant surprises.

 

Well no need to be a jerk about it. Like I said, I wasn't planning on relaying the information so just deleted it and didn't bother taking notes.

I'm fairly sure it was in a temp folder, so If I had to guess I'd say it was probably something like c:\User\(username)\AppData\Local\Temp

@ dim_triad: I agree %100 on buying Ableton... someday when I can afford it. In fact, the reason I discovered all this is because I was replacing my cracked version on my laptop with a Live Intro license that I bought. I figured, if I can't afford it, I may as well pay them what I can since Live is so valuable to me. I still have the full version on a desktop, but I wanted to buy at least some sort of legit version.

The logs in the Temp folder regarding the install made notes about finding a previous install, a previous license, being unable to remove the current install (I had already deleted the folder), etc. It tried to call home several times before it gave up due to me disabling my internet for installations. The logs were actually called webconnector if memory serves.



And yeah, I'm not super worried about it. I wasn't trying to alarm anyone. But I thought some of the members might want to know that just blocking Live's exe file in the firewall isn't gonna stop it from calling home. In fact, I just saw a thread in here by a member who didn't disable automatic updates and had his license removed.

 

Look also here, maybe it help you:

How To Block A Program In Windows 7 Firewall

 

Yeah, you`re right. apologies!

Ah, I see, that explains why I couldn't find anything as I delete the temp files on a regular basis...

 

FYI: If you start a program with admin rights, it overrides the firewall settings.

 

internet legend pure joke.

it can make smille *yes*

 

Sorry to burst any bubbles but there is an essential function of one or both of these folders and it has something specifically to do with the control surface list. As soon as you delete/rename them, the control surface list is reduced to just a few items thus rendering most midi controllers useless with this application. However as soon as both folders are returned to their default state the control surface list assumes it's expanded list allowing the use of any compatible midi controller with full functionality. I think if there is something suspect about the webconnect or update folders and you require control surface support (which i assume would be most people) then blocking them might well be a more effective approach.

 

Yikes. This post should never have seen the light of day again. Noob extraordinaire, that OP



Anyway, thanks for the info ytraM. I no longer have to worry about all this stuff, but it's nice of you to point out that these things may serve some purpose.

 

Shame on you... Bubble burster

 

As an aside.. what the hell is Ableton AG?? never noticed it in earlier versions of Live.

 

Cos its a noisy pain in the ass.. that, AFTER your files have been indexed, and you havent added anything else, there is no need for.

I typically just kill it in task manager actually, unless I have new files that need to be found and indexed.

 

AG is a German term that refers to a corporation that is limited by shares, i.e. owned by shareholders, and may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

 

Trust me, i have not had the time to dig around and narrow down the culprit but something in one of those two folders messes up the control surface list. Anyone can easily verify it for themselves by simply renaming/removing those two folders and having a look at the list in LIVE preferences before and after. It is a nice long extensive list before, and a shitty one with only a few devices after. Just trying to save any more hair pulling and burst arteries for people that may be wondering why they cannot get their usb controllers to function properly.
Hope this prevents someone from balding prematurely.
Even still i think the OP is onto something here that might be worth a closer look.

 

Last edited: Nov 8, 2015

Man, now that you mention it, my push stops working after a few seconds and freezes into oblivion. I don't remember manhandling those folders but it's worth a shot, maybe that fixes the issues!