[Table of Contents]


[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [ARSCLIST] Anti-virus on workstations?



At 06:41 PM 7/29/2004 -0700, Brandon Burke wrote:
Thanks for the replies, everyone.  (Joe, I'm not singling you out here.
Yours just happens to be the most recent post right now.)

I'm afraid that my original inquiry was misinterpreted.  Probably my
fault.  I wasn't very specific.

In any case, I'm already aware that running anti-virus on a DAW is not
a good idea.  I'm looking for more specific information.  Something I
can hang my hat on.  I'm looking for horror stories and first (even
second) hand accounts of what can go wrong when running anti-virus
applications on a DAW.  Examples would be "[X] happened to me once" or
"[Y] happened to the guys at [such-and-such studio]".

(Note: Bottom-posting is generally preferred, in part because of the ease with which extraneous material is deleted.)

This may help, though it deals with amateurs doing simple audio capture.

In my attempts to help those getting into CD recording, I frequently
encounter reports of quasi-periodic gaps in the digital file. I've seen
some from discs sent for diagnosis. Without exception, they come either
from underpowered systems running heavy audio editing programs or from
monitors - AV or others. The former are usually handled by using a
lightweight capture program such as CDWAV, though upgrading the computer is
preferable. The latter are consistently solved by killing all background
programs; defragmenting the capture drive sometimes helps as well.

Gaps are typically of the order of 100 msec long with a rep rate of the
order of a few seconds. Typically, they are staggered by a millisecond or
so between the two channels and the cutoff is abrupt, regardless of the
amplitude when it occurs. The absolute level of the signal at the cutoff is
maintained through the 'gap' and when the signal returns suddenly, the
effect is often an audible click.

Note that other background programs will do the same damage by digesting
resources (particularly memory). Infected computers often lose most of
their memory, file access and even CPU to their nefarious payloads. While I
recommend not monitoring for viruses while doing audio, I strongly
recommend making sure the system of worms, viruses and trojan horses.


Mike -- mrichter@xxxxxxx http://www.mrichter.com/


[Subject index] [Index for current month] [Table of Contents]