Any Virtues of having an Offline Studio PC these days?

Hey everyone,
I'm planning a massive studio pc upgrade and along with everything else I am updating, going from Sonar version 8 Producer to Sonar Platinum.  My studio pc was made in 2007 and back then keeping your studio pc offline for the performance and security was certainly worth the minor hassle of online activation and updating.  Looking at how things have changed, I am wondering if it's even possible to keep your studio pc offline anymore as a lot of newer software seems to require a constant online connection to go with their subscription services and I am no longer seeing offline activation for various software being an option.  
 
My offline studio pc, despite it's age, still operates just like it did when I first turned it on so I am inclined to keep my new studio pc offline if it's at all possible.  I don't plan on using any subscription services (maybe EW's composer cloud) and prefer to pay for what I want up front but in the case of buying a digital download and transferring it from my online PC to my Offline Studio Pc is having an offline PC feasible?  

I don't make my living with Sonar so I don't worry about it. If I was running a commercial operation I would be more careful, but so far no issues being online. I also do regular backups of my working drives so even a catastrophe can be recovered from.

You can create a shortcut for your internet connection and put that on your desktop, then simply disable/enable the connection at will by right-clicking the icon and selecting one or the other.
 
Also, if online all the time, you can set your Widows update to only fire off when you want, not automatically. This prevents competition for resources when you are working with Sonar. This can also be configured to prevent the automatic installation of unwanted updates (e.g. Win 10).
 

Mine is always online as well, running Win10.  I'm not sure what was meant by "auto-backup" in a previous post.  The only thing I've experienced is with installed software, that is programmed to do such.  Win10 can be set to not intrude in the middle of recording, or at least I'm not seeing a problem on this end.  The updates are auto, but you can determine when the OS is updated.

Another +1 for Mr. Jonesy's approach. I'm only online as needed.
 
If you upgrade to Platinum and are not able to connect your DAW computer to the internet, be aware that you won't be able to use Addictive Drums. XLN requires an internet connection to activate their software. I begged and pleaded with them when I first got AD, but to no avail. lol !

I do exactly as rbecker does. Sometimes I forget, and if I get a hiccup, or adobe acrobat wants to update, ( god, do they write a new update every other day?) that's the first thing I reach for

Sheanes
....
Windows Updates, McAfee and Internet Explorer were sometimes causing problems on my computer.

1) Set Windows Updates to "Check for updates but let me choose when...".  Problem solved.
2) Get rid of McAfee.  Plenty of good virus scanners that are proven to be Sonar-friendly.
3) See #1 (Just guessing your IE issues are due to some auto-update nonsense).  Turn it off, or better yet, switch to Firefox or Chrome.
 
I'm online 24/7.  But I have a safety net in the form of regular backup images to an external drive.  Thing is, I can't remember the last time I had to restore from it. 

 
As I use 2 DAW's equally I use both worlds without issue. I have a Workstation and a Laptop. 
The workstation:
 
 I do as Jonesey, I have a wireless dongle so super easy to unplug. I have limited internet of only 3 Gigs a month so on line is not even an option. 
I'm still on Windows 8.1 and not planning on changing, I would have been better off on W7 ( IMHO) but Windows 8.1 was cheaper at the time. The OS is invisable to me. 
Once I got the computer running 100% I have not done one update in over a year.  I see no point. I only check for Sonar and my interface drivers. I use it hours on end. Here is the beauty of off line,, no worries of virus or internet takeovers of my world. 
I used the off line activation of Sonar on this DAW as Command Center never worked properly for some unknow reason I don't feel I need to investigate.. All is working and recording 100%. 
 
My Laptop: 
I use CC on my Laptop because I can go where there is better internet. I use it to record my band at gigs and in our practice space. It is W7 and I keep everything updated. It has a wireless swicth I turn off when working but otherwise it's a normal laptop and I also use it for basic internet chores and surfing. 
I don't do any power Sonar work on it so cannot say what would happen. This is 90% audio and only one midi track from the keyboard player. I go in and do basic editing and stuff without issue. I'll switch to WDM mode if I don't have my Interface with me and it all works perfectly fine. 

Beepster
I heard something about Zeta (or maybe one of the other Cake synths) require an online registration too but I think they were doing something about that.

...They said they would do somethng. I keep revisiting that thread in the hope something changes, but nope.
I downloaded the update back then, took it home on a thumb drive, installed it and... Oh, Expletive.

Sheanes
XLN can be installed/activated/authorised on an offline machine, they have a feature for this on their website...it's quite easy...eh sorry, that only support early version (mine is AD1) 

Yeah... they totally overhauled their website and registration scheme a couple years back. It's a little annoying.
 

jpetersen

Beepster
I heard something about Zeta (or maybe one of the other Cake synths) require an online registration too but I think they were doing something about that.

...They said they would do somethng. I keep revisiting that thread in the hope something changes, but nope.
I downloaded the update back then, took it home on a thumb drive, installed it and... Oh, Expletive.

I downloaded and installed it but haven;t tried it yet. Not sure if it authorized. I did have the internet connected at the time so maybe it auto authorized or it will piggy back on my old reg code... but now I'm a little concerened. Oh well... I guess I'll see how it goes.
 
hmm... actually maybe I didn't install it yet. I'd have to check my install notes.

Offline is just a couple of clicks away.   XLN is a bad thing, like so many other 'features' CW offers for which they are very likely paid some money.     One fairly new feature of software authorization:  whether your internet adapter is enabled or disabled is locked in to the authorization scheme -- I have to remember to enable the internet for Melodyne Studio and disable the internet for SpectraLayers Pro, otherwise they refuse to start.
 
Generally, for software that is years old, I see no reason to enable ANY updates.     I'm quite content with windows 7, and I vigorously monitor the horrible update schemes from Adobe and the other internet vampires.

I've always been online via a wired Ethernet connection.

Never an issue.
Set antivirus to not scan Sonar and plugin folders etc
Some antivirus much more friendly than others. You choose.
Now on Win 10 and when setup properly then no interference from updates and backups etc.

I live dangerous and also have an iLok.

Thanks for the insight!  Apparently people still have offline pc's so i should be good. I was hoping to be able to update and reactivate the software i have via a separate online PC but if I have to do momentary connections for some of the new stuff I want (and there's a lot of it) then that will probably be ok.  I dread the day when everything has to be online all of the time and I think it's going to happen sooner or later. Back in 2002 when i was in college and i first started doing this kind of thing I did everything on a single PC and it took forever to do anything.  I also lost a good number of projects due to college hackers, viruses and the like. Since then I've never wanted to do an online pc for studio work again. Also my studio pc for its age still works exactly like it does when i first booted it up and I STILL have the occasional issue with dropped recordings or other various errors.  I would imagine having a PC online and bogged down with extra processes would increase these occurrences.