I have to say: i don´t remember EVER being infected by something downloaded from Sister Site. Ever.
But again, don´t have megaterabytes stuff installed, and mostly use the effects from Live and very few vsti.

And yes: the music I make is utter shit, so maybe that scare viruses away....

 

As far as i know yes.

To OP if you unsure with something test it in an Sandbox like Sandboxie or an Virtual Maschine with Hyper-V, VMware or stuff like that to be Safe your System doesn't get infected.

As i often look after Computers of friends i can tell you most of the time viruses and malware comes from Pornsites or thru malware infected Sites which Advertise on other Homepages.

 

Last edited: Nov 18, 2022

Just to add my humble 5 pennys worth (or 5 cents), on the sister site, always try and use the dl link that that the poster supplied (The one within the thread) as that as close to source as we will get. Avoid the user supplied mirrors as there is nothing stopping someone DLing something, adding trojan, and reupping it as a unofficial "mirror".

 

The only virus I have encountered was from a 'vst pack' torrent - it was a win98 virus that copies itself to other files - mostly harmless but annoying. Malwarebytes cleaned it up for me with a manual scan. These infected files are usually found on sites that steal other people's work, not by those who do the fixes. False positives even happen to normal devs making open source software. It's a joke.

I also use VirusTotal on suspicious files, and Sandboxie to verify what gets installed.

 

Never in my entire life I got any malware cracking stuff, even back in the day when I was 10 years old trying to figure out how can I install mixcraft 5. Today, as I get older, and actually got better doing music, I tend to use free stuff or buy the things that I use often (that deserved to be bought). I'm in a position where actually I got some money from my music, so I just buy the things that helped me doing so.

So, right now, I tend to just use R2R .exe things that doesn't need any external software, like their Arturia releases or their Autotune that needs other applications installed. (although, I already used both of them not so long ago and never had any problem). Also, I tend to download R2R releases exclusively from sister site (but already used from the ru one and never got anything).

Right now I just need to buy 2 more things (Fabfilter bundle and Komplete 14 Standard) and probably gonna try to stay away from cracked stuff for a while to see if I can live without the urge to try a new plugin that I don't need.

 

If you have Windows 11, its Sandbox is your best friend.

 

I copy-paste here the answer to the nnnth message on sister site saying that some random AV have reacted to some random kgen, I tried to be pedagogic/educational/patient... or something like that... or perhaps not? The name of the "thing" detected by the AV is - it's important here -:
HEUR:Packed.Win32.Convagent.gen.

​

 

By making an exception for my torrent download folder in Windows Defender.
So basically, by denial.

 

It's also in Windows 10, maybe only pro, not sure.

 

Totally right Defender does a great Job add Defender UI to it and Voodoo Shield and you good to go.

 

Download a free program called "Sandboxie" (https://sandboxie-plus.com/sandboxie/) and open all your keygens using that program. That's what will relieve you of most concerns over infecting your computer. With most keygens all you need to do is copy a key to a text file which leaves you with no possibility of infection if the key generator is sandboxed. For the occasional keygen that both provides a key and/or also does some patching, then you have to consider the source and if you feel like taking a risk, since a sandboxed keygen won't be able to patch anything. From time to time I've chosen to forego an installation when it requires using a keygen outside of a sandbox, but that's really up to you and your knowledge of where you got it from and what group is supplying it.

 

The GODS at RADIUM, AIR, and R2R NEVER have viruses. ALL you need to know.

 

I didn't realize you don't know about the sister site.