and how do you use a firewall?
I donāt think this is the right place to discuss the difference between different kinds of firewalls and virus scanners and a firewall is not a VPN.
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e.g.:
Secure internet access from anywhere
Secure your business with an encrypted VPN and mitigate the risks from untrusted internet connections.
Proton VPN has advanced anti-censorship, malware, and man-in-the-middle attack protections designed to work even in locations with hostile internet conditions.
Sorry but now it gets deep into technical details and, again, this is not the right place for this.
Simply copying material from Proton doesnāt explain the details. My day job is IT and security, this is a forum about Steinberg products and music, not technical nits and bits of network technology.
You can easily lookup information about what a virus scanner is doing and what a firewall is.
youāre right!
@udo_agnesens thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I have used and do use vpn encryption access but not on my workstation that has cubase on it. I use Citrixās VPN. Unfortunately, it doesnāt protect from getting viruses in and by itself but thanks again for the suggestion. I hope you have a great day.
I know Iām repeating myself here butā¦ I really think there is something to the idea that if our starting point is a system thatās as lean as is reasonable then adding software that scans files and data transmission seems like something we should only do if we need it. And so it seems to me that the reasonable approach should be to set up the system first with the included dedicated tools for security and then see if anything else is really necessary.
My take on it is that the risk profile changes depending on what we do in general. I canāt be bothered by things like location sharing or anonymous telemetry if Iām simultaneously using all convenience features on my smartphone. My location will be cached somewhere anyway and search results will yield ārelevantā data based on all of the above - which is what users want. Itās still going to be that way even if I slap a VPN or virus protection software on top of my desktop.
What I do instead is try to have one set of passwords for anything that isnāt critical, meaning social media etc. and one set for banking and business, and then refreshing them all regularly, with passwords that canāt be pieced together without being in my brain. Any time possible I use two-factor-authentication so that not only does someone have to have my account username and password but also unlock my phone using my biometric data.
And then lastly thereās the software I install, the files I open and the websites I visit. I have control over that. And I do avoid opening anything from unknown sources and I try to avoid websites where I get a warning in the browser or the link/address seems questionable.
So with all that said I think the Windows built-in protection does a great job and I really havenāt had any problems yet and donāt really feel like adding more software would help. Equally important to me is that I havenāt seen any good technical evaluations that show how I fit into a group that would benefit from extra protection - meaning tests that show how that extra protection blocks things for a user like me that I would otherwise get harmed by because Windows wouldnāt catch itā¦
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@udo_agnesens Well the discussion is about anti virus, not commercial combo products.
I canāt sell you on ESET or any other third party security solution. Thatās something you need to do yourself after researching what you really need. All I said was that āI still find ESET to be my preferred solution with no measurable impact on my DAW apps.ā
And note that I used the word āsolutionā instead of āantivirus,ā which was a deliberate choice. I was actually referring to the obvious fact that none of these decent āantivirusā products are exclusively antivirus products these days. As you know, they are now entire security suites, befitting the times we live in.
So itās really about you deciding what your personal security needs are, and thatās outside the scope of this forum IMO.
And since this is a DAW forum, youāre not going to get a lot of really solid security expertise TBH on important issues like what threat models are and how to do a proper threat assessment, etcā¦ this is something I deal with in business, but itās way outside the scope of this forum. I just suggest you start by looking at what security suites do these days, and youāll find that there is not an apples-to-apples comparison between what something like ESET or some other third party security suites do versus the native Windows antivirus tools. Some of those third party tools might be useful to you on your DAW, despite what some guys might tell you here in this forum.
Youāll find extra features like excellent firewalls, network analysis/monitor tools, ransomware protection, anti-theft protection, online banking protection, home monitor tools, ad blockers, encryption tools, password managers, VPN tools, and much moreā¦
But then again, you may not care about ANYTHING except for an antivirus product, but itās worth understanding what those other tools are too, how they might be useful to you, why you might want to pay for a reputable tool, and then youāll understand why itās worth considering a third-party security suite that includes some/many/all of those kinds of features. Or maybe youāll want to get different tools from different providers.
And Iām not saying that ESET is the best at any or all of those kinds of tools. But I am saying that I find that ESET behaves well with Windows DAWs, and typically has negligible to zero impact on my real-world resource usage, while giving me a āsuiteā of tools to better protect my DAW machine.
I also use Mac and Linux machines, and I would choose something else for them. I also have other Windows machines that are not used for DAW work, and I might choose something else for them too. But in my experience, ESET has continued to be a good option specifically for Windows DAWs. Thatās just an opinion, and it may not be the right one for you. In my case, it gives me tools I like to use and doesnāt screw up my DAW software. But in case I lose faith in ESET, Iāve recently tested Bitdefender for Windows DAW use too, and that appears to be well-behaved for DAW use as well.
But if you donāt care about that extra stuff, then by all means, just stick with the basic antivirus that ships with Windows. It scores great on catching viruses. But doesnāt do much else that one of the better third-party security suites does.
Good luck!
(And if you get into VPNs BTW, as some people are mentioning in this thread, some of the VPN providers are much better than others. I can suggest Proton as a decent VPN provider to start with).
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@uarte Thanks for the detailed response. I appreciate you taking the time to write it all out. I definitely have experience with antivirus software, vpn, etc. and the scope of their understanding is beyond this forum as you accurately articulated.
My goal is to do as you shared, make a decision based on my needs, but I wanted to leverage the experience of real world professionals using the same tools I use to maximize my research efforts and ultimate selection based on my needs.
Based on your experience with different operating systems and solutions your response as well as others is very beneficial. Thank you again for helping me out, I definitely appreciate it.
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Youāre most welcome! Again, good luck! Iām sure youāll find the right solution for your needs!
Iād mentioned Windows Defender earlier in this thread in the context of the original question about how intrusive anti-virus software might be for DAW use, but I learned yesterday of a new (to me at least) development that could be of interest to some on this thread who may be looking for protection beyond just anti-virus.
In particular, due to my being a Microsoft 365 customer (mainly for Office applications), I got an email from Microsoft yesterday that brought my attention to a new offering called Microsoft Defender that is included in my Microsoft 365 plan. It works with Windows Defender for anti-virus but adds other security-oriented facilities, including some that work on smartphones and multiple devices per user:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-defender-for-individuals-b
Itās probably a no-brainer for Microsoft 365 customers since, for example, it adds protections on your Android or iOS devices, and it doesnāt cost anything extra. I didnāt need some of the services since I have them from other sources, and there seem to be a number of footnotes regarding what works where at the moment. It can be purchased separately for non-Microsoft 365 customers, but the main reason I mention it here is due to the side discussions on other protections, especially as may relate to those who have decided on Windows Defender for the anti-virus side of things and may want to consider other compatible protections from the same source.
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Hi @rickpaul , thanks for that hint,
and do you need to add exclusions also for things like:
-ARA type programs (RevoicePro, SpectraLayers)
-3rd party VSTIs?
-Other?
Thanks!
Iāve only added exclusions for my DAWs (Cubase and Cakewalk by BandLab). Plugins shouldnāt be necessary, if I understand correctly, since they are loaded by the DAWs, so should be excluded based on excluding the files loaded by the process for the DAW. Note that Cubase itself is not excluded, just any files its process loads. And the plugin files can get scanned elsewhere (e.g. on installation).
Maybe if there is something that creates a separate process that itself loads other files, that might also be worth adding if there is a performance impact. I wonder, for example, if something like Waves StudioRack, which can load VST3 plugins, would be a potential candidate. StudioRack itself should be included in the Cubase process exclusion since it is loaded by Cubase, but what about plugins it loads? I donāt know, one way or the other. But Iād guess there would be minimal impact, even if those would get scanned, since there probably wouldnāt be many plugins loaded, unless maybe youāre loading lots of instances. By contrast, Cubaseās plugin scans could have a pretty huge number of plugins to check for plugin junkies like me. 
I might also add that, when I initially came across this idea, my system disk was a slow (and dying, it turned out) hard disk, so plugin scans could be positively painful the first time after a reboot (even without having the extra activity of malware scans). Since replacing that drive with an SSD, Cubase starts MUCH more quickly.
Iāve added exclusions for all audio file formats , all related programs with Cubase including Vstiās . NOTHING ELSE