The first thing I do when I download warez is winrar the keygens/patchers/patched dll's with a trivial password and no compression (storage mode). In fact I do the same for every software with lots of installation files. It saves a lot of time when it comes to a full scan and helps with fragmentation on HD drives.

You might be able to restore the deleted files from the AV hibernation storage.

PS: my "no compress" Winrar settings list. Some look familiar?

*.cab *.rar *.zip *.lzma *.tgz *.gz *.z *.tbz *.tbz2 *.bz *.bz2 *.7z *.mov *.mpeg *.mpg *.mkv *.avi *.flv *.mp4 *.m4v *.m4a *.mp3 *.flac *.swf *.aac *.ac3 *.ogg *.ogm *.jpeg *.jpg *.gif *.png *.jp2 *.pdf *.cab *.msi *.msu *.nkx *.nkc *.nks *.nxp *.f4v *.msi *.ncw *.xpak *.obw *.db *.bfdca *.n2v *.n2p *.n3v *.n3p *.nkr

 

The normal windows security essentials and malware bytes will do the trick. Had no problems and always keeps you safe online / downloading.

 

Windows defender ? anyone ?

 

According to the results from AV-Test and AV-Comparatives Avira and Kaspersky are one or not the best.

 

That is not an easy decision. That task is challenging by numerous misconceptions that surround the anti-virus world and some questionable claims made by some vendors. I am attaching several PDF's files courtesy of https://www.av-comparatives.org/. In these you will find pertinent information that will help you make the correct choice.

 

Webroot SecureAnywhere, xtrasmall, fast, trustworthy. Free antivirus solutions does not work 100% for me.

 

I have no antivirus on the production system. It's a lean mean music machine.
I'm protected by frequent (after every new software/plugin installation) drive clones using Clonezilla. I have an internal drive which is normally disabled in bios. I enable it for cloning purposes and disable it afterward. That way if I am ever infected or the main system drive crashes, recovery is just a clone away. This system never hits the internet, so if I get something, I can be sure where it came from (downloaded software).
My project/data drive gets a once every few months external backup. Nothing fancy here, just a file copy. If it gets infected, once again, wipe and restore from the most recent backup. It's also a dual drive mirror configuration which suits me as read speed is better than just a single drive, plus I get the mirror benefit in the event of an actual HDD Hardware issue.
I also don't run AV on my internet browsing PC. Same clone approach for it. I've gotten pretty good with hearing a lot of disk activity, ending the browser, or hard power down to stop whatever is trying to infect it, and reboot. Been awhile since I've had issues, but, as I've read here, a lot of it has to do with what types of sites you visit. Having black ice running in the background doesn't hurt either... ;-)

 

Black Ice user here, too. For sure it does not hurt!

 

i use malware i havent had any problems in a long time

 

Sandboxie and some common sense.

 

Used KAV for years on my Media PC. But now i think its completely over-bloated including for a DAW PC. ;)
Now iam using Bitdefender Free... and my Brain. Check Malware with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware... and firewalling with WFC...

 

Last edited: Jul 15, 2017

Stop wasting your time and computer resources on AV. It's completely useless. Huge drain to machine resources, problems with pirated software even from trusty sources, problems with legal software....and the list goes on. Since I got rid of it, everything works better than ever. Machine running faster, no problems with everlasting false positives on pirated software...never had the chance to meet a virus.
And I'm not an expert by any means, just a regular guy using 90% of pirated software.
I actually wonder how do you manage to get infected by a virus? I mean, you have to click on every damn crap that pop ups on your screen.

 

Last edited: Sep 9, 2017

What about a firewall? You believe in those?

 

A firewall is necessary to prevent applications calling home for whatever reason. Be it legit or not I just don't like the idea of software connecting freely to the internet because in that situation there's always a possibility someone making changes to my system without my knowledge.

 

I think it's just easier to use a no-Internet OS for audio production. No AV and no firewall. Then you can install a VirtualBox OS for browsing, or better setup a dual boot with another OS for browsing and testing plugins... It's quite nifty.

 

Saint the best one I found is Linux MInt. LOL

 

Having one system for all is the easiest thing.

 

That may be easier right now. What SineWave suggests is easier in the long run.

 

It's never easier to have two systems on the same machine than one. What do you mean by "long run"? I'm doing very well for 3 years now.
Never had any problems. Win 7.