Don't steal software, bro. You might get sued!

If you are at all comfortable with computers [...]

I've spent quite a bit of my time doing computer programming as a hobby. I spent 2 years in tech school doing it as well. I placed #6 in a statewide programming competition, and #2 in another statewide robotics competition. The HTML for my company's website is hand-coded. I developed a full set of Lua scripts for my Logitech G13 so that it can assist me with my DAW workflow. I've installed various Linux distros and continue to use them (as a power user with the UNIX command line) when I need to. I've written scripts for my friend adding bot and scheduled tasks with the command line to automate its process every day -- I even came up with a workaround for the memory leak in its embedded IE browser. I run a rooted Android phone. I hand-chose the services that I will and will-not run on my Windows machine in order to optimize my computer's DAW performance without disabling anything system-critical.

I'm not trying to brag; I'm simply letting you know that besides music, computers are my passion. I'm likely one of the most computer-literate users you'll find on the FP forums.

If you are at all comfortable with computers you will never get a virus... unless someone is trying to say hack into your bank account information or maybe you harbor nuclear launch codes or something.... but if you are not a high risk target and you know how to operate a computer well viruses really are not an issue.

Even with all of this experience backing me, I couldn't tell you with any certainty whether you have a virus or not. Some viruses don't seem to do much. Some look for stored credit card information while you sleep. I recall one virus in particular that made me laugh because it always crashed after a few seconds. Some just slow you down a bit, and little-by-little your computer becomes gradually encumbered by a bunch of extra processes who consume processor cycles and RAM, but since your computer loses its performance gradually from one month to the next, you don't realize how sub-optimally your system is running.

Think about this: Computer software exists that can break the copy protection in Windows. Computer viruses exist that can evade and disable antivirus software. If these things are possible, don't you think that a virus can break (and impersonate) your monitoring tools as well? I have been a victim of imposter "explorer.exe", "regedit.exe", and "taskmgr.exe" files several times in the past, and I'm certain that I've fallen victim to some much more sophisticated rootkits and the like as well. Sure, everything may look great when you try to check out your computer processes, files, and the registry, but how do you know that you can trust what you see?

So long as you use pirated software, you have to wonder whether every system hiccup is caused by a virus.

-Ki
Salem Beats
 
Last edited:
get a mac f#@k a virus ;) and yeah i download loads of illegal movie content never one virus or at least that i know of haha and you know what for people who have morals i respect that, i just dont have any or at least for digital content ;)

Macs can get viruses too. Its not nearly as common but it can happen.

---------- Post added at 08:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:13 AM ----------

Don't comment on this just for your own sake, a mod already got mad at me for talking about pirating as it is.
Piracy talk isn't the worst of the worst but encouraging piracy or bragging about it or advising it is really whats against the rules. If you pirate that fine just keep it to yourself. This convo is cool and informative. Ill let it ride.
 
Macs can get viruses too. Its not nearly as common but it can happen.


My exact words. I think its logical its like that less people use Macs, if a coder wanted to create something malicious why not target the larger audience?

I remember I had a ACSA instructor who got in the middle of a classroom disagreement that Macs don't get viruses. He had a quarantined file one of his students made. He said ill tell you what if your that confident that you wont get a virus give this program a run. It was a program that locked the keyboard and mouse into a password window, but you can see the terminal open consolidating all of his pictures, movies, and music into one file by extension to eat up all his free space and the password stopped the process. The the student ran it, he wound up saying F you to the instructor lol, but it was a laid back class the teacher laughed along with the class no offense taken.

I think we all as computer users who do business need to be prepared for these kind of things. I could let my computer hang for months without a antivirus, but I keep it on the safe side and keep two virus scanners handy even though its not really recommended...also all of my friends come around with their usb drives and each time the antivirus gives a alarm soon as its inserted.

Bunch of random stuff I do manually on windows since its common.

Antivirus software doesn't always work, sometimes you will know for sure there's a viruses, but its not detected by the antivirus. Then you try something else that does detect it.
Turn off hidden files and folders, along with hidden extensions. Theres common places like the C: root, %appdata%, %temp%, ProgramData, system32, syswow64, Windows and a few other common directory's I'd check first. Sometimes you can tell which files are new by the date/time/modification sort order. Check your task manager and look at it often to see what files are normally ran when your computer starts...right-click them and go to open file location and look at the directory its in and the date modified. It could be in a folder a bunch of software you never heard of with hints of free, system inspector, pc doctor...just things you know you never installed.

Sometimes renaming a file can help break the virus but the files still exist. Running Services.msc you can control a large amount of programs set to start automatically by going into its properties and changing the startup type.Run Msconfig in your start menu and go to the start menu section and look at software your familiar with, and stuff you never seen before, and un-check some of the unfamiliar software those are some of the processes that will start upon logging in. Take a look at
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup that also is somewhere that allows programs to start automatically when logging in. Checking your registry is important also very dangerous for trying things out. A few things I said are kind of dangerous, but its all manual, you experiment and over time you'll have an eye for it.

Get rid of your browser cache and temporary files, check your homepage to make sure its the official site and not another redirect used for phishing information.

I learned alot from younger self experience, then also decided learn from the books to not just do it, but to understand why. Should be a dedicated thread.
 
get a mac f#@k a virus ;) and yeah i download loads of illegal movie content never one virus or at least that i know of haha and you know what for people who have morals i respect that, i just dont have any or at least for digital content ;)

How do you post your soundcloud player like that in your sig?

I've asked a few people on here but I can never get an answer
 
I've spent quite a bit of my time doing computer programming as a hobby. I spent 2 years in tech school doing it as well. I placed #6 in a statewide programming competition, and #2 in another statewide robotics competition. The HTML for my company's website is hand-coded. I developed a full set of Lua scripts for my Logitech G13 so that it can assist me with my DAW workflow. I've installed various Linux distros and continue to use them (as a power user with the UNIX command line) when I need to. I've written scripts for my friend adding bot and scheduled tasks with the command line to automate its process every day -- I even came up with a workaround for the memory leak in its embedded IE browser. I run a rooted Android phone. I hand-chose the services that I will and will-not run on my Windows machine in order to optimize my computer's DAW performance without disabling anything system-critical.

Well I guess I can't really say I never have had any sort of computer infection, I misspoke. But I can say that over the years I have never really noticed a gradual decrease in performance on any of my machines, I have never had information stolen (that I know of) and I have never really had any strange hiccups with my computer. So if I do in fact have a slew of infections on my computer due to cracked software, they are very benign on all accounts. There are communities where the user base is built on trust and the releases are monitored by the release teams and knowledgeable users leave comments so it is possible to get a pretty good picture of what you are putting on your computer. With that being said stealing is wrong, support the companies whose products are worth it and for the rest try the demo and if you like it then consider paying for the full version. :)
 
The funny thing is the software companies are actually PUNISHING their actual customers as a result of piracy... its totally backwards!!

I used to (many many years ago) use pirate software, but decided to stop... I came to the conclusion that if I didn't take myself seriously enough to invest in what I'm doing, why should anyone else?

Just this past week I got a new computer and started going through the process of re-installing a bunch of LEGITIMATELY PURCHASED plugins on it. And guess what? IT'S BEEN A HUUUUUUUUUUGE *****! Licenses, serial numbers, online registrations (I was trying to make this computer strictly for music and not even hook it up to the internet), downloading updates, etc etc etc!!! It has almost made me want to go back to pirating stuff! It's crazy!

The whole system is backwards. Its the equivalent of WalMart strip searching all their costumers who come in the front door, meanwhile their back door is unlocked and open for the thieves.
 
The funny thing is the software companies are actually PUNISHING their actual customers as a result of piracy... its totally backwards!!

I used to (many many years ago) use pirate software, but decided to stop... I came to the conclusion that if I didn't take myself seriously enough to invest in what I'm doing, why should anyone else?

Just this past week I got a new computer and started going through the process of re-installing a bunch of LEGITIMATELY PURCHASED plugins on it. And guess what? IT'S BEEN A HUUUUUUUUUUGE *****! Licenses, serial numbers, online registrations (I was trying to make this computer strictly for music and not even hook it up to the internet), downloading updates, etc etc etc!!! It has almost made me want to go back to pirating stuff! It's crazy!

The whole system is backwards. Its the equivalent of WalMart strip searching all their costumers who come in the front door, meanwhile their back door is unlocked and open for the thieves.
lol I agree with a lot of this. Some companies are more annoying to use than others. I hated registering Addictive Drums for example. Took almost a week to make it work then on top of that the owner didn't even choose to own the problem or fix he just well sorry sometimes that happens the system is screwy and should be updated. Honestly the easiest registrations I have ever done are via Cakewalk, IK Multimedia and Propellerhead with the ignition key and Balance. Those were fast automated and fairly painless. Then we have stuff like AAS who makes great products but I hate the process of getting the software to work. I still want Chromophone though.
 
Back
Top