Old 09-18-2014, 04:06 PM   #1
High5denied
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Default Free Plug-ins, viruses, help......

Hello, brand nubee here. To Reaper and the Forum. I installed Reaper last night, and had Reaper search for the available plug-ins I had downloaded.

I basically went crazy downloading every free plug-in I could find, a few paid ones. Checked these sites:

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.p...hlight=plug-in

http://hem.bredband.net/tbtaudio/archive/archive.htm

http://www.vstwarehouse.com/p/e-f-f-e-c-t-s.html

http://bedroomproducersblog.com/2012...vstau-plugins/

Most of them downloaded without any problems. Some of them my computer gave me a warning about downloading, as it may be harmful....and so on. I'm not sure if the trouble with my computer started on downloading a virus infected plug-in, or with the actual extraction of it and install of one?

Fast forward. I was just about ready to import some of the .wav files from a prevoius recording I did to try and spice it up a bit, and......I kept getting pop ups for computer scans, programs I hadn't installed started scanning my computer, web browser started crashing like crazy. My wife tried to print a coupon out, and it printed 35 pages of just a bunch of strange text character's, and then finally the coupon. I'm not able to run an anti-virus program like malwarebytes. It won't load.

So, all of that to basically to ask. What is the best way to prevent this from happening again? We are taking our computer to hopefully get the malware off. Or, I'll need to do a system restore or something. Do I run a virus check on each plug-in file I download before I install it? Or does this need to be addressed before downloading? How do I know which ones are safe and virus free? So I can start to use all of the awesomeness that Reaper has to offer?

Thanks!!
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Old 09-18-2014, 04:44 PM   #2
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With a proper antivirus (I use eSet) your software will be scanned when downloaded. You still need to be careful and not just download anything!

There are several 'safe' places download software, there is also a large freeware thread on the Reaper forum with lots of good stuff listed.

See Freeware here:

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=52382

and Effects here:

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=563.

Good luck, and Welcome to Reaperville!!

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Old 09-18-2014, 10:12 PM   #3
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Certain sites are safe and some not at all. There is no rule to know which ones are safe and which aren't.

Don't disobey that google chrome message saying this download may harm your computer - they are based only on user feedback and are mostly true. If a download comes up with the red circle and white dash symbol, I am NOT downloading it. I will search for other sources.

I don't run an anti-virus software, I just practice safe downloading. It's like sex. Would you point at a random girl on the street and say 'we're having sex' (if you could do that... )? Neooow. And of course your answer should be I wouldn't because I'm married. :P

I would suggest after dealing with this first infection, getting at least some basic anti-virus software while you are downloading lots of things. eSet is good and not too expensive, definitely better than those CPU and $$$ hogs like McAfee and Norton. Avast is a great free/paid alternative. Their free version has just as much virus fighting capability as the pro version.
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Old 09-18-2014, 10:54 PM   #4
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And some of the free software come bundled with malware that is damn impossible to get rid off.

If you can afford do, do a complete reset and then selectively d/l the required free plug-ins. Use the bedroom producers "best xxxxx vst" type list as a guideline and ALWAYS d/l from the developer's website.

Also, love your nic and pic ... Hilarious \m/
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Old 09-18-2014, 11:10 PM   #5
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Thank you for the replies/information/suggestions/welcome. Very much appreciated.
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Old 09-18-2014, 11:34 PM   #6
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You can probably fix/recover your machine on your own. Try downloading a boot-recovery cd from this site - i like bitdefender. And as previously recommended, stick wth well known sites, and if your av/antimalware software gives you a warnng, take heed.

A side note - don't download every free plugin you can fnd. Yeah, tempting when starting out, but really not helpfull to productivity
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Old 09-19-2014, 02:03 AM   #7
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I would recommend to stick with the usual suspects, who sort out a lot of hassle for you in the freeware-plugin-hunting sessions that can go easily for about months ... also these usual suspects dont link to malware suspicious sites and have a good clue about where they are linking to because of the big community, reporting instanteneously if there is somethign fishy going on.

the usual (and secure) suspects are:

www.kvraudio.com

http://bedroomproducersblog.com/

what you cant find there is non-existent. :-)))
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Old 09-19-2014, 08:38 AM   #8
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Got it.

I'll be quarantining myself to the listed sites, and not ignoring my computers/AV softwares warnings.

And..........Buying more plug-ins, when I figure out which ones I truely need.
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Old 09-19-2014, 10:44 AM   #9
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I did that before...DL'd everything I could get my hands on, like a kid in a candy store.It not only limited my time to work on songs while searching for all these things, but also made it harder to wade through them all to try them and categorize everything. I'm trying to go lean with my new computer but it is hard. I've just gone for 64 bit plugs to eliminate a lot of them, and DLing the choicest 32 bit stuff like Bootsie some interesting WOK things etc.

Less is more in this case. Do you want to be a vst reviewer or make music? I'm preaching to myself here...YMMV.
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Old 09-19-2014, 03:59 PM   #10
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honestly, if you bare in mind all the fx-plugs that come with Reaper by default, add some Bootsy, VladG, Kjaerhuis Free, then you are left to search for some VSTis. so the best of - list at KVR and bedroomproducers is enough for next 10 years.

the really good stuff is always mentioned again and its always the same. yo there is no need to go through thousand of pages again and again.

as said, if you overdo it, you end with a total timekiller and with lots of plugs, that you will never ever use.

there is no need for 25 eqs and 53 compressors and the 1067. delay. said that, you should see my vst-archiv ... gathered in ten years and I dont delete it although I know that I will never use that stuff. :-)

but mankind is still hunters and collectors, seems to me so. :-))
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Old 09-19-2014, 08:25 PM   #11
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The free plugins bring out the hoarder in all of us
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Old 09-22-2014, 12:35 PM   #12
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Deff. want to make music, lol...... If I look back at the time I spent searching and downloading, and waiting for our computer to come back. Well, I should just slap my self and get it over with. I could have probably sketched out at least one song.

So, whiteaxxxe, I've only spent a week downloading VST plugins, and I prob. have mostly ones I'll never use as well. I am afraid to see what I would do at the end of 10 years.

Ya, dang it, I'm a hoarder. At least it's bytes.
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Old 09-22-2014, 01:30 PM   #13
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one week I think is really sane. you dont need to attend that anonymous plugin-collectors group. :-)
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Old 09-23-2014, 11:04 AM   #14
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A lot of the malware crap out there will rename your malwarebytes executable and insert a dummy in there. Sometimes you can get it running again to scan your computer with some digging...
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Old 10-06-2014, 12:50 PM   #15
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Well, officially needed to reformat our computer, luckily I had all our files backed up on an external hard drive. So, for the moment my wife will not be killing me, and our computer will be restored to factory. Then, the long process of transferring our files, and finding all of the programs I need to re-download onto our computer.

Hopefully in a few days, REAPER here I come!!

Don't be a fumb duck like me and ignore the little pop up that says this file may not be safe for your computer.
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Old 10-09-2014, 08:12 PM   #16
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same thing happened to me man. sucks. It was a whole big ordeal that I was posting on here about and was about to spend 400 dollars on switching to studio one because I hit a brick wall with reaper and couldn't use any 3rd party plugins. I don't want to live without the variety of sound plugins haha. My stuff was all messed up. Somehow I eliminated the problem vst's and got stuff back to normal. was terrible though man. best of luck to ya!
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Old 10-10-2014, 01:37 AM   #17
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I had that initial download everything reaction and had the same thing with malware but caught it just in time. since then I've used the stock Reaper plugs, a few freebies which were special offer from manufacturers and I actually bought (!!!!) Valhalla Room and Vintage Verb because they pretty much give you everything you need in the verb department. I got some more free ones from Focusrite with my interface. So whilst I'm always tempted I never touch!
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Old 10-10-2014, 09:06 AM   #18
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I've been using Reaper for two years and now I'm heading for the none free stuff.
I think it's a process most of us have to go through. It's HAVE been fun DL'ing all these VSTs and wave files, but as mentioned, if you are not a very structure person it's going to be a mess and you don't find anything.
And now I'm waiting for a good Kontakt crossgrade deal, so I can do easy druming
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Old 10-10-2014, 12:15 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by High5denied View Post
Well, officially needed to reformat our computer, luckily I had all our files backed up on an external hard drive. So, for the moment my wife will not be killing me, and our computer will be restored to factory. Then, the long process of transferring our files, and finding all of the programs I need to re-download onto our computer.

Hopefully in a few days, REAPER here I come!!

Don't be a fumb duck like me and ignore the little pop up that says this file may not be safe for your computer.
Take a look at the files you are downloading for starters. If it's an installer app and you can't tell what might be inside, a little research would be in order.

Start using an app like Carbon Copy Cloner to make 1:1 backups of your disk volumes. Especially any system volumes. This makes identical copies that are bootable - bit for bit identical.

Before doing any R&D with your system, make sure your backup volume is current. Now if something goes wrong, a complete system restore to exactly where you left off is only 5 minutes away.

If you're running Windows, I'm told it really truly is necessary to have anti-virus and malware protection to avoid things. For the rest of us, Little Snitch is a great network monitor app that will not let anything get by behind the scenes without express permission.
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Old 10-10-2014, 01:07 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fergler View Post
I don't run an anti-virus software, I just practice safe downloading. It's like sex. Would you point at a random girl on the street and say 'we're having sex' (if you could do that... )? Neooow. And of course your answer should be I wouldn't because I'm married. :P
I also do not run anti-virus software and I am not married, so, yeah, I could do that with a random girl. I mean, safe downloading. :-)

(didnt know that it is now called "downloading" ...)

serious now. if you have the collecting plugins phase you should stick to the usual suspects as bedroomproducers, KVR, the appropriate threads here, on KVR and maybe GearSlutz and the like. and download directly from the origin-site of the plugin-manufaturer. you get them all this way, there are near to zero unexplored and unmentioned gold-nuggets out there. so ... this is the internet, nothing is hidden. :-))

if you do that, you are safe. should there be anywhere a unsafe site, soemone of the communitiy will report this, and firefox and chrome will tell you either.
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Old 10-11-2014, 06:55 PM   #21
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Don't play without a condom. It is true there, too.
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