The only 2 companies that springs to my mind is tone2 and u-he.
I want to make sure that they will not notice me using a cracked serial number.
Because i think the plugins connects to links and servers associated with the companys plugins.

And the same goes for latest waves, izotope, xfer plugins and so on, etc... ?
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And if this is true.
They are simply doing homecalls.
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I want to avoid this from happening to me.
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And now i simply need to know what to add to the host file to stop this homecalling thing from happening to me.

 

a lot of software respects system internet configuration to communicate with the web - what speaks against proxy misconfiguration with local network whitelisted and using a browser with own net config like firefox where you can setup not to use any proxy at all?

Basically you setup your sys proxy setting wrong so stuff wont be able to connect globally. I was on windows unitil got scared of Vista and it worked pretty well ... it works on mac too. There is not much soft that comes with own networking components afaik there is elicenser and adobe stuff

simple but effective

on win the point of interest was: sys ctrl pnl > inet cfg > connexxions > lan settings
on mac its the net neighbourhood

 

Last edited: Oct 15, 2015

But the homecalling system in the vst plugin will be active even if the user does not use the plugin.
It simply communicates with it's servers to see if the registered serial number is vaild according to their database.

The vst plugin must be registered on a computer which has no internet access.
And then the vst plugin can be used without any problems.

And then when the computer gets internet access.

The vst plugin will instantly communicate with the companys servers in the background without telling the user anything about it.

Even if the vst plugin was not used since the introduction of internet access.
The user does not have to open the vst plugin to make this happen.

Simply put:
The vst plugin registration system regularly checks internet connection.
And it's even active if the vst plugin is not opened or used in that day.
A closing the DAW that uses that vst plugin, solves not that problem.
And restarting the computer does not help either because the vst plugin registration system autostarts when the windows operating system boots up.

It might feel like a virus or spyware at this point.
Because it might also apparently collect which users and ip numbers use which serial numbers and how often they use these vst plugins.

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I want to stop this from happening.
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Being a dll file and not an excecutable, it's not possible for the vst to call home for itself. It can be run through dll injection as a hook. That's basically how a daw runs those vsts. Those vst can perform various actions under their host - calling home may be one of them.
With that in mind: if you block your daw from accessing the internet, you're safe.

 

And which program should i use to (block your daw from accessing the internet). ?
I am using Windows XP here.

 

Last edited: Oct 16, 2015

Just use the windows firewall and change the settings to block your daw from the net...

Go to windows firewall settings...

its easy enough...

 

Maybe Tor or VPN?

 

and that prevents the plugin from calling home how exactly?

 

Last edited by a moderator: Oct 16, 2015

not really but andrew from austin becomes pavel from prague tor/vpn is not an option

this is just not true, where you got this info from?

Actually the options are:
pull the ethernet cable or the wifi cable (winner!)
personal firewall blocking the DAW (good if you want one installed, not sure if wxp has one builtin)
an intentionally wrong configured systems proxy setting (easy peasy, most not all of the unwanted traffic gets blocked that way)
ipfiltering/routing: hosts file / peer guardian (imho bad choice, lots of effort)
firewall on your router (in this case - imho worst choice,too much effort)

 

Simple: when a plug-in registration fails after a while, hosts block that plugin and reinstall it.

 

I always had trouble with the Sample Modeling Plug's: Sax/Clarinet etc... http://www.samplemodeling.com/en/index.php
even with editing my Host file for outgoing connections etc..

 

Any other solutions if the (edited host file) fails?
Apart from using (windows firewall settings) as mentioned by (remix).

 

Sadly NO!

 

@Pipotron3000

Impossible to find it with:
Process Explorer.

?

 

Everything more than homecalling is a virus/malware behavior. just block ur daw from inet via firewall and edit the hosts file.

 

Whats about ZoneAlarm ? A bit annoying, asking when an App try to Connect to the Internet, but should be save at all. It's learning all the time when an Program tries to go Online and you can Choose Yes or No