For those that use cracked VSTs, how do you deal with all the malware?

Discussion in 'Software' started by dorian7lc, Oct 30, 2020.

  1. 5teezo

    5teezo Audiosexual

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    macOS ;)
     
  2. Pipotron3000

    Pipotron3000 Audiosexual

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    Good sources.
    A doubt ?
    Upload file to VirusTotal
     
  3. Gyro Gearloose

    Gyro Gearloose Audiosexual

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    mate that was evil sarcasm i thought you or we all here kno these 2 are the worst when it comes to warez and wasting resources
    sry:mates:
    is still THE top dog but i dont need AV
    i just use virustotal for unknown source stuff
    sandbox is total overkill if you kno youre sources

    and zoner and kaspersky what did they say ? i think i kno the answer..
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2020
  4. Xupito

    Xupito Audiosexual

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    No need to apologize at all man ;)
    I took your comment seriously because I actually saw a really good review of that AV years ago so I tried it.
    And I was like WTF was the guy high on. Or just a "thankful stomach" like we say here when, you know, you're trying too much to thank your "sponsor"... lol

    About the eternal debate, like most ones I just don't see the point of staying on one of the extremes.
    I just have my AV installed but fully disabled and I open it when I want to to do a scan, or when I do really sensitive stuff with the browser.
    I also update it almost every day but offline, there's a nice tool for it in Kaspersky site. So in the worst scenario I could plug off Internet and still launch and update it.
     
  5. Obineg

    Obineg Platinum Record

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    as usual... the more ignorant, the more wrong answers are. :)

    no, there are no websites which can be seen as "trusted source" for someone who didnt even know how to protect his machines against adware.

    and no, sister site is not a safe bet. the majority of users - including the OP - do not know the people who run and upload by name. and recently all of the NI keygens from the sister site contained malware, just so you know.

    then what? music software wouldn´t contain malware at all? yeah, you´d wish. :)

    and there is no malware on mac? we even have cryptominers on mac by now.

    reality is here, friends: https://www.welivesecurity.com/2019/06/20/loudminer-mining-cracked-vst-software/

    the rest is fantasy and prejudices.


    in relation to the original question:

    1.)
    some sources are better, some are worse.

    there are no safe sources.

    even personal friends or group members might make a mistake and upload a file from a third party which they didnt scan yet.

    it is your computer and it is your responsibility what you install there - and that you dont loose work.

    2.)
    on windows and on macOS newer than ~5 years, always use antivirus software when downloading and unpacking files.
    in windows, dont count on the first autoscan to work, esp with physical drives. rescan all your files _after unpacking things down to the lowest level.

    in an ideal case, you have a second computer, one for downloading and testing, and one for work. (this is for a lot of situations useful, not only because of malware or updates.)

    3.)
    always have a safety backup of your most important files. of course you already have, dont you?

    and no, not the sychronisation nonsense of windows and macos - and not a raid disk either. make manual copies of important files, this is the only safe way.

    4.)
    optional: if you have a mac, run your keygens in keygen app if you can. ( i.e. not on your friends business laptop without antivirus. :) )

    oh, and btw., 5.)
    dont even think about downloading your antivirus software from a warez site.

    avira & co are already enough of a treat themselves, and they are the ideal carrier for malware.

    the free version of these programs is totally sufficient for scanning files for adware and miners.

    6.)
    while you are about to change your process: now is also a good moment where you should finally scan your collection from the last 10 or 20 years.
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2020
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  6. eXACT_Beats_

    eXACT_Beats_ Audiosexual

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    This is a very broad generalization that is only passably true. I'll skip the "I have Win7Ult. and *everything that's not restricted to Win10, solely, works fine," and skip to the fact that even XP runs a lot of newer plugins, even in "outdated" DAWs. I know this because I know oldheads who are stuck about 15 yrs behind the times.:guru:
    I'm not saying to rule it out, but I wouldn't jump to any conclusions. :no:
    That being said, I have never had *anything from the sister site come with any sort of unwanted gunk. Hell, even the mass majority of torrents are clean, as most are the same R2R/V.R/Audioutopia/etc. releases, untouched (though, I wouldn't use torrents as go-to unless you know your way around the territory.) I would suspect one of a million "legit" downloads/installs of a known program(s) that just happens to have been bundled with an unholy amount of PC-slowing shit. I've had that happen more than once; install a small, 5mb, PC cleaner, or something, and the next thing you know it's also installed an Advertising Hub so as to alert all of The Inter-Web of your likes, dislikes, needs, and wants. :rofl:
    And, as someone mentioned, use RevoUninstaller. That program is gold. :wink:
     
  7. Gyro Gearloose

    Gyro Gearloose Audiosexual

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    dude you clearly kno nothing bout this scene here:deep_facepalm::deep_facepalm:
    even bout www and computers lol
    yeah right but thats not the whole story super newb



    unblvbl :deep_facepalm::deep_facepalm:

    1 ftp-3 trusted racer -1 topsite and even the mirror websites are clean the ones who are sort of scene

    but here enough 35 year long mac,linux,win users who dont need a AV to detect a virus , when some rls would be dirty it would come heavy shitstorm also from AV USERS:deep_facepalm:not good for clicks

    i had 1 virus in my whole warez carreer it was from torrent but but not trusted torrent and yeah there are even clean torrent sites you dont kno a dime bout:deep_facepalm:

    yeah we all so ignorant and you are the lightbringer heh heh NOT its vice versa
    and no team did ever pack miners or virus..
    and dude miners run on illegal streaming platforms , the ones who take it seroius at least
    makes no sense to pack miners into shitty software of dudes who check their cpu and ram every second :deep_facepalm:ppl who are computer afine and no clueless ppl who could have exploited all ram and cpu and never wouldnt get it:facepalm:
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2020
  8. Gyro Gearloose

    Gyro Gearloose Audiosexual

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    show the code lol
     
  9. Gyro Gearloose

    Gyro Gearloose Audiosexual

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    :mad:yeah sure at best from pirate bay :lmao:
     
  10. Gyro Gearloose

    Gyro Gearloose Audiosexual

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    this is right woohho
    and this so wrong
    they operate good on scripkiddy level thats it from free to pro version .
    alone cause of the concept of using outdated signatures ...even its 1 day old its outdated cause bla bla bla its a busted one and now indexed one which is burned

    fckn AV dont even have some tech to get info bout usual traffic and cpu,ram usage , and so it could alert if something is happening unusual
     
  11. Obineg

    Obineg Platinum Record

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    not sure what you mean with "scriptkiddie level" but the antivirus function of the free and pro avira programs are identical.

    the pro version has functions for auto update, system enhancement, web and email in addition.

    monitoring the system can be a useful feature, but normally you dont need it when you always scan new files.*)

    you also dont need it because you have a bunch of other methods to recognize that kind of issues.

    and for me it would only be useful if i could turn it off with 1 simple click (which is, from a mac perspective, a real problem with antivirus software and with windows in general).

    *) however, i just noticed by your comment we should add one more checkpoint:

    7.)
    of course you are supposed to know what the host list is and use a networkfilter in addition. it will be limited to PPP, but that covers most cases.
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2020
  12. Obineg

    Obineg Platinum Record

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    i can tell a lot from the way people like you communicate.

    you wouldnt do this ... in places. you wouldnt even come close to those places with your attitude.

    that there is more behind that story still doenst mean that those who claim there would be no malware for mac are right.

    there was also more behind the ftp-welt-originated capital-[K] malware in 2001, but that also didnt mean that it wasnt harmful for people without norton installed.

    however the guy who made QEMU is not suprised at all, neither are the security specialists.

    note the market share macOS has and take into account that a system considerer to be "safe" makes a perfect target.

    you fail to understand that the thread it is not about me or you, but about the guy who asked the question.

    he expects a solution for everyone, because he wants one for him.

    why you think that you are the greatest and coolest is of zero interest to others.

    until now you have written nothing to help the threadstarter.

    the threadstarter cant know who uploaded which file to which site in the web.

    answers like "you have no idea" "it doesnt happen on mac" or "why do you complain when it´s free" are communication on the level of 5 years old kids and doesnt answer his question.

    until now, windows 10 board tools make a good job in tracking those.

    the higher risk is when the average user downloads warez from baidoo & co. and then sharing it further.

    you show him the source of the information and he still says "no, this doesnt happen." :D

    if you think that everyone who uses protools or photoshop on a mac pro is a nerd and runs debuggers and disassemblers in background and put his machine behind an IDS, you are wrong.
     
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  13. naitguy

    naitguy Audiosexual

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    Already said, but I'll echo what I do to avoid viruses/malware with this stuff. I've been doing this for 30+ years now. Only been infected one time that I can remember and that I was aware of. It was from an audio torrent site. Let me guard down on that one. My tips (again, some repeats here):

    - Use an a/v program (in my case, MalwareBytes Premium).
    - Always download from trusted sources.
    - Read comments in the threads to see if things worked well for people.
    - Try to avoid anything too new, to buy more time for the comments section to point out problems/viruses/etc.
    - Run keygens in Sandboxie. If they extract files somewhere, you can fish the files out of the sandbox using the sandboxed file explorer
    - I often run installers via Sandboxie first. It's definitely far from a perfect test, but I think it helps to see if the installer does something suspicious before I run the legit version. Also, if all it does is dump files somewhere (i.e. no registry stuff, or complicated file system stuff), I can copy it over, again with the sandboxed file explorer.
    - If you're skeptical about how safe something is.... it's not worth it. Wait til later and find a safer alternative. You'll survive :)
     
  14. OBKenobi

    OBKenobi Producer

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    If 1000 people downloaded the file, ran it for months and never got any problems but Bill Gates says it's a virus, which one do you think is more reliable? I have never gotten a virus from trusted sites or downloads that have been used by many people. If there is ever a virus it is caught quickly, the AV industry is full of shit, not to mention that they make half the viruses themselves to begin with.
     
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  15. itisntreal

    itisntreal Guest

    that is what you can advise everyone :wink:
     
  16. Gyro Gearloose

    Gyro Gearloose Audiosexual

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    yeah sure mate im the greatest ..fo sho what ever you say..im just a stupid fcktrd who kows this shit way better then you...you calling others ignorant but dont know shit..
    ---
    and what has this to do with r2r from az raced by trusted dudes
    and even for vr
    you dont even understand that nobody here involved would have a benefit of wrapping dirt into our warez
    and there was never even 1 on az ever , all who say other , lie


    lol
    i kno all the places which count go to youre malware places and have fun
     
  17. Gyro Gearloose

    Gyro Gearloose Audiosexual

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    you a liar
    again: show us the code
    and prove its taken from az from one of the 3 racers uploads


    --
    and about OP : op is on wrong places if he has any malware ,thats it, simple as that
    look on the ratings he got for this thread ..eh eh
    and then you come around and talk stuff you need for dirt places...find the error:deep_facepalm:
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2020
  18. DoubleTake

    DoubleTake Audiosexual

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    Hmmm... Who is "...people like you..."? (What kind of person is he?)
    in places? What places?

    Well I don't know about all that techie nerd stuff, but I find it interesting that you just joined here and immediately start insulting people who have been around here a long time.
    ... and to make matters worse, your punctuation is terrible, your spelling poor, and you have left out almost all the apostrophes in your contractions!

    But don't mind me ... i am just here for the beer.
     
  19. AudioTiger

    AudioTiger Ultrasonic

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    Here's how:

    1) Get your stuff from trustable sources (like the "sister site"), always as close as possible to the original releasers/teams, just to minimize the risk of tampering or incomplete data.

    2) Send the cracks/keygens to virustotal.com and get the analysis reports of 50+ antivirus programs. Learn to interpret and understand these reports (this is crucial). The most important result in virustotal is the one by Kaspersky (The very best antivirus. Period. And I can tell you this for sure after 40+ years of being a very serious computer geek).

    3) Still scared? Then, for simple serial number generation, use SandBoxie (or a similar sandbox), which now is free. For cracks/patches which actually MODIFY files you should have as try inside a Virtual Machine (also for all kinds of tests and tries). In that Virtual Machine, install Kaspersky Free and *also* AVAST -- which is the only antivirus that can be installed together with ANOTHER antivirus, as far as I know). This way, in your test Virtual Machine, you may force a complete DOUBLE antivirus test, once the audio software/plug-in is installed and cracked. The important test you must perform is NOT on the crack or keygen, but on the FINAL installed/cracked files (or the full Windows) in you Virtual Machine.

    My method is bulletproof, at least up to now. After DECADES of using TONS of cracked software (I have 362 TB --yes, Terabytes-- of stuff), 3 PCs and 2 servers, I have had NO PROBLEM AT ALL.

    Hope this helps. Greetings to all!

    [And, btw, the answer is NOT "use a Mac". I also have 2x i7 Macs, but Windows has LOTS more software -- Just look at the number of releases for each platform... Windows wins by a VERY large margin.]
     
  20. Lois Lane

    Lois Lane Audiosexual

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    My computer never caught anything from the sister site that couldn't be cured with a dose of antibiotics. Make sure that your computer wears a condom at all times but make sure to allow for ventilation else you fry it's brain.

    Lois, Out.
     
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