Ableton Forum

crumhorn wrote:Please don't say "get a mac". I'm on a limited budget and need to get the most form my existing set up.

Doh! Missed that! Now I look like a twat (as ever).

[facepalm]

Piplodocus wrote:

crumhorn wrote:Please don't say "get a mac". I'm on a limited budget and need to get the most form my existing set up.

Doh! Missed that! Now I look like a twat (as ever).

[facepalm]

Well you didn't really say "get a mac" and I enjoyed your post anyway

I work for the world largest AntiVirus company so i'm biased of course it also means i live this stuff every day and have data to back up my opinions.

Note that every product you've discussed in this thread is basically 2001 technology. Microsoft, ESET, AVG are all outdated products whos primary detection capability require a signature that maps to a specific variant of a virus. Because over 90% of malware changes every few times it propagates, these products are next to useless. They only protect you against known variants which is almost never what you'll actually run into.

The perception that AV products are "working fine with no problems" is problematic in that with anti-malware programs, if you notice nothing by letting it run, how do you know it's doing anything? If you have 100 infections on your system, and every password you type is sent to the russian mob is it "working fine with no problems" because it doesn't slow your music machine down?

Be careful of products that have no performance impact but are free or close to it. Likely the reason it stays out of your way is because it's completely worthless. In order to make a performant AV product you need a fundamentally different type of technology than any of the vendors mentioned in this thread are using right now.

Ah - that's why semantec is such a hog that it's more trouble than the malware it's supposed to protect you from?

Khazul wrote:Ah - that's why semantec is such a hog that it's more trouble than the malware it's supposed to protect you from?

Your data is old by several years. Slashdot may not represent actual performance testing.

At one time that may have been true. Several years ago. Many things have changed over the years.

Hmmm - you work in their training centre?

Anyway it was a few months ago when I restored my wife's laptop to usability.

I prefer to run a script that shuts down networking and anti-virus along with other unnecessary services while musicing.

Be careful of products that have no performance impact but are free or close to it. Likely the reason it stays out of your way is because it's completely worthless. In order to make a performant AV product you need a fundamentally different type of technology than any of the vendors mentioned in this thread are using right now.

What do you recommend, then?

tempus3r wrote:I work for the world largest AntiVirus company so i'm biased of course it also means i live this stuff every day and have data to back up my opinions.

Note that every product you've discussed in this thread is basically 2001 technology. Microsoft, ESET, AVG are all outdated products whos primary detection capability require a signature that maps to a specific variant of a virus. Because over 90% of malware changes every few times it propagates, these products are next to useless. They only protect you against known variants which is almost never what you'll actually run into.

The perception that AV products are "working fine with no problems" is problematic in that with anti-malware programs, if you notice nothing by letting it run, how do you know it's doing anything? If you have 100 infections on your system, and every password you type is sent to the russian mob is it "working fine with no problems" because it doesn't slow your music machine down?

Be careful of products that have no performance impact but are free or close to it. Likely the reason it stays out of your way is because it's completely worthless. In order to make a performant AV product you need a fundamentally different type of technology than any of the vendors mentioned in this thread are using right now.

this is the type of bullshit that i would expect to hear from the "world largest antivirus company".

there is no way in hell that an antivirus software should be heavy on a CPU.... it should only have to monitor known definciencies in the OS. that's it!!! and who actually knows of those definciencies better than the OS developer themselves???

and if you say you work for Norton, i'll tell you that you are full of shit. scare tactics are exactly the type of crap i'd expect to hear from a company like norton or mcafee.

so not to knock the "world largest antivirus company" more than it already knocks itself, but the best way to keep viruses off your computer is to not access the internet at all. otherwise only access the sites that you absolutely have to and keep a small footprint AV software on your machine.

Moody wrote:I prefer to run a script that shuts down networking and anti-virus along with other unnecessary services while musicing.

Problem with AVG is it's very resistant to being shut down by a script.

I've been without an installed AV for many years now and everything is just fine. But I'm a paranoid fella and I visit some security/tech sites daily to stay in touch. And I also:
1. backup my system partition every now and then. So that if something like a virus happens, I can go back to a clean and fully functional system in minutes (which is much better than trying to remove said virus).
2. upload pretty much every .exe/.msi etc. file to VirusTotal before I run it.
3. don't use crappy browser plugins like Java or Quicktime. Even Flash is disabled most of the time.
4. still scan the system occasionally with a couple of "offline" scanners, like Safety Scanner or portable versions of other AVs.
5. disable autoplay (necessary if you're dealing with USB drives).

So yeah, with some discipline and common sense you can be just fine.

Maybe check out what Sony and Citibank are using. I used most of the free ones over the years, using Microsoft SE now. That delay every now and then, is it your data drives waking up after a while? I think thats why mine does it. You could set them not to sleep if needed.

McQ714 wrote: this is the type of bullshit that i would expect to hear from the "world largest antivirus company".

there is no way in hell that an antivirus software should be heavy on a CPU.... it should only have to monitor known definciencies in the OS. that's it!!! and who actually knows of those definciencies better than the OS developer themselves???

This statement establishes that you have no credibility in this discussion. Did you really just say "who better to protect you against OS vulnerabilities are the people who made them in the first place"? lol

Also of note, malware does not often target KNOWN vulnerabilities. That's the whole point...

McQ714 wrote: and if you say you work for Norton, i'll tell you that you are full of shit. scare tactics are exactly the type of crap i'd expect to hear from a company like norton or mcafee.

It's not just Symantec and McAfee who will warn about what is going on these days. Microsoft and everyone else does too. These are just basic facts can't argue with. Let me know if you'd like a reading list.

Start here and tell me if you still think this is a "scare tactic". http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-System-Erro ... 1586487485

McQ714 wrote: so not to knock the "world largest antivirus company" more than it already knocks itself, but the best way to keep viruses off your computer is to not access the internet at all. otherwise only access the sites that you absolutely have to and keep a small footprint AV software on your machine.

For machines without internet access, people will end up using USB drives to move software they download to them. You will not be able to run a music machine without downloading software for it. If you choose to keep the machine off the internet, you'll be putting that software on it via USB. USB is the modern floppy drive, and a very common attack vector for malware. Google for threats like "Stuxnet" that infected machines in isolated networks in power plants WITH NO INTERNET CONNECTION.

crumhorn wrote:I'm on the look out for new, preferably free, anti virus software after spending a few hours working out that AVG is behind most of my performance problems with Live.

I'm thinking of trying AVAST. Anybody tried it?

Any other suggestions

Please don't say "get a mac". I'm on a limited budget and need to get the most form my existing set up.

Hi OP. You have two options.

1) switch to a different, free, AV product that does not give you the issues you've had with AVG. I would never use those so I can't comment on which is best but it seems you have recommendations on these from others.

2) switch to a full featured suite that actually has a chance of keeping malware off your machine. If you experience performance issues, shut the services down when performing on stage or working in the studio, and turn them on all other times. This will have a better shot at keeping malware off your machine while at the same time not impacting performance when working on music. This is not free though, but I thought it worth mentioning since with "free" you get what you pay for with protection.

I would also note that, at least in the case of Norton, there have been many enhancements made in recent versions with extreme performance improvements. For example, if a known good file comes on the system, and never changes, why scan it again? Simply ignoring all known Windows OS files with known safe hashes has a massive performance gain. The "free" don't leverage the latest techniques.

FFS - if your going to become a walking talking advert for your company - ask ableton dave to change your name appropriately.
You aint the only corp person here - thankfully most such people choose to be just users - not corp sales pluggers.

Im kind of surprised as well - what your doing would have got me in the shit with my ex-employer - we were told very specifically, neutrally advise, politely correct, ideally by providing links to published facts etc and above all - dont piss people off in the name of your company and respect the fact that some people's opinions might be very much against the company and/or its products for one reason or another - direct experience being one of them.

Im free of that now, so I have no need whatsoever to be polite anymore whatsoever - so take your company's junk and shove it where the sun don't shine

We shouldnt blame you really - corporate brainwashing programs etc... See a doctor, get yourself signed off for six months, get wasted, get laid, become human again instead of corporate droid.

BTW - I have to wonder with your referenced reading if you were a hacker wannabe, but too young to have been around when people learned to defend out of necessity just to keep your own little bit of the internet up and running? Them were the days...