Help trick me into not using my DAW Desktop for the Internet

Seriously. Somebody help.
 
It's the first thing I do in the morning. I do it before I leave for work. I do it when I get home from work. And I do it before I go up to bed.
 
Sometimes I do it for hours on end with no specific agenda. I just sit there and do it.
 
I own 3 laptops and they all just sit there and gather dust.
 
I bought a KVM switch with the intention of hooking up a 2nd desktop to the same monitor, but I never bothered to set it up.
 
Somebody... Help me stop using my DAW Desktop for just going on the internet for any and everything from Facebook to watching movie trailers to checking the news to POSTING THIS POST...
 
I know the majority of my computer issues probably stem from me using my DAW computer for everything else, but I just can't help myself.

Help.

Using your DAW to surf the internetz will give you REAL LIFE SYPHILIS!!
 
You don't want REAL LIFE SYPHILIS!!!! do you?!
 
DO YOU?!!!
 
...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SYPHILIS!!!!
 
 

Beepster
 
SYPHILIS!!!!
 
 

 
But then I might become a real life mad genius... #silverlining

Real answer though...
 
Take one of those lappys, leave it on all the time (just let it "sleep") and put it next to your DAW.
 
Works a treat. As I ape through pretending I know what I'm doing on the big shiny box I can take little intertube breaks and/or search solutions to my apeoidesque musical adventures on the little shiny box.
 
Unfortunately I only have one "little" shiny box at the moment which normally resides on my bedroom desk so I can watch shows/movies/read news/harrass you guys/etc as I do my morning/nightly physio stuff. Therefore if I want to go maximum nerd in my little studio office thingie I gotta take the lappy in with me. Not a big deal but I'm eyeballing a new lappy to permanently reside in my DAW room and completely relegate the one I'm currently typing on to bedroom duty.
 
The DAW remains completely offline aside from when I'm doing updates and SOME very rare times I'll do online stuff through secure websites.
 
There is only a hardwire ethernet port (no wifi) which I yank out as soon as I'm done with the intertubes so I disable my AV as well once it's yanked. I turn it back on again when I'm importing files via flash drive and scan any files I bring in that way.
 
I could go on about all the wacky shiz I do to keep the big beast free of interphockery but yeah... I don't care if they say it's fine to keep your DAW online these days. I don't have to so I bloody well don't and I think it's been a good strategy considering I don't have the time, brains or money to fix things if something stoopid happens.
 
...
 
but also...
 
SOOPHULIZ!!!
 
:-p
 

There is no good reason that your DAW cannot run general purpose applications and audio stuff, if they are not running at the same time and competing for resources. The main reason for avoiding surfing with your DAW is that it exposes you to malware. That risk can be mitigated by having good and active (constantly scanning) antivirus software, frequent disconnected backups and ultimately by surfing from a sandbox, but technically it is easier to just use a throwaway computer for that, ideally one that is never connected via your home network to a machine with important data on it. It is possible that malware can make it to your machine in a form not recognized by your antivirus, but which becomes activated at a later date, so if you turn off your antivirus for improved performance, the seed may sprout. Of course if your DAW only houses junk, then losing it is not a big issue, or if you have important data on another computer, then the same considerations apply. 

slartabartfast
There is no good reason that your DAW cannot run general purpose applications and audio stuff, if they are not running at the same time and competing for resources. The main reason for avoiding surfing with your DAW is that it exposes you to malware. That risk can be mitigated by having good and active (constantly scanning) antivirus software, frequent disconnected backups and ultimately by surfing from a sandbox, but technically it is easier to just use a throwaway computer for that, ideally one that is never connected via your home network to a machine with important data on it. It is possible that malware can make it to your machine in a form not recognized by your antivirus, but which becomes activated at a later date, so if you turn off your antivirus for improved performance, the seed may sprout. Of course if your DAW only houses junk, then losing it is not a big issue, or if you have important data on another computer, then the same considerations apply. 

See now you're just talking me into continuing my ways haha. Cause yes, I keep everything shut down except antivirus and backup software if I'm working on music. But in the back of my mind I know that any little issue I run into... I probably wouldn't have it if I just grew up and kept the computer offline. 

Ok, ok, ok...  Here it is.  A rare ACTUAL answer from me for your situation:
 
Get a cheap, used laptop (yes, you can find one for under $100 easily).  Just make sure it's running at least Windows 7 so you can see websites using HTML5 and the other new standards.  Now, put it in a workgroup with your DAW (usually the workgroup is, ingeniously, named WORKGROUP, but you can change this).  Now, type "Allow remote" into the start button area and make sure the laptop can accept remote access.  Then click on File Explorer and then Network (a folder at the bottom of the left side menu) and, after seeing the message that Network Discovery is turned off, click on the message to turn this on.  Do this on the DAW too.  Now you should be able to see the laptop from the DAW.  Right-click on the laptop icon from the DAW and select Connect With Remote Desktop Connection.  You are now viewing the laptop from your DAW.  Do your surfing here then simply minimize the window when you're not using it.  It will still be one click away.
 
Now, here are a couple of things you'll want to do to make things even better:
 
1)  On the laptop, keep it plugged in anywhere you want (preferably directly connected to your internet router) then go into Control Panel and Power Options.  Change the "What does closing the cover do?" to Nothing (when plugged in). Then change the power options settings for "When Plugged In" to Never (there should be two settings).  Now you can keep the laptop closed and never touch it, but it will always be accessible from the DAW.
 
2)  From the DAW File Explorer window (Network section), if you click-and-drag the laptop icon to your desktop, you can create a shortcut to the laptop.  Now you only need to right-click on the shortcut to select Connect With Remote Desktop Connection.
 
The above is exactly what I do with my work laptop so I can use my main computer's big screen (along with its keyboard and thumb-ball mouse).  Works great! 
 
Post-note:  Needless to say, the best "next step" would be to create a backup image of the laptop's OS.  Then, if it gets a virus from the Internet, you can simply restore it from the image and keep surfing!

sharke
I know it's a personal preference and everyone has reasons for what they do, but it still interests me how musicians seem to stand alone in wanting to keep their workstation offline. It's weird but I never hear anyone else say "I never put my computer online ever." There are plenty of other professions which rely on the use and maintenance of very complex and expensive software suites - graphic designers, web designers, movie editors, architects etc - and yet they're all pretty liberal about surfing the net on the same computer they work on. What is it about musicians? A general paranoia? 

Every antivirus I've tried bogs down my laptop. I get dropouts, and latency issues at the worst times. I gave up and now it's fast and Internet-free.
Thinking about trying Craig's idea though...

my sole laptop caters for all of my online and offline needs... But, yes, interwebs can sometimes be a bit of a distraction (I am supposed to be working right now...)

sharke
I know it's a personal preference and everyone has reasons for what they do, but it still interests me how musicians seem to stand alone in wanting to keep their workstation offline. It's weird but I never hear anyone else say "I never put my computer online ever." There are plenty of other professions which rely on the use and maintenance of very complex and expensive software suites - graphic designers, web designers, movie editors, architects etc - and yet they're all pretty liberal about surfing the net on the same computer they work on. What is it about musicians? A general paranoia? 

In my case, there is no "paranoia" as such...
 
Before I even knew what a DAW was, somebody I knew who was into video editing met a guy who supplied the BBC with the software and systems that they used for making tv programmes and decided that he just had to have some of that himself, so he did. It was quite unusual (mainly due to the high cost) for a regular Joe to have this kind of thing, so as part of the deal he also included several one-to-one tutorial sessions where he would come to his home and walk him through it all. The guy not only knew the software inside out and backwards, but was also something of a PC guru too and his first ten rules were.....this pc is for video editing, not www surfing. Keep it that way and it will be problem free and you won't be paying me to come back and sort it out for you when it doesn't work any more. So he obeyed the first ten rules and never had the slightest hint of a problem in many years of use. I simply took this rule on board when I discovered the world of DAW pcs and also have never had a single problem that wasn't caused by PACE/ilok software and resolved by removal of same, bar one instance of a hardware component failure.
 
So, in my little world the keep it off-line team has had a 100% success rate so far, where all the other pc's in the two houses that are used for www stuff have not. Good enough for me.

My DAW has always been my internet computer too until a couple of years ago, out of necessity. Nothing dreadful or exceptionally bad ever happened, as I was careful, but I promised myself that some day, I'd buy a dedicated computer and treat it like a simple hard drive recorder: no OS upgrades, only the strict minimum in terms of software and no internet, save for authorizations.
 
Otherwise, it's like opening a can of worms and you find yourself installing and upgrading all kind of things and adding clutter...
 
I bought my DAW in 2014 and it works exactly as it did when I first got it and I want to keep it like that. I don't even want to think of it as a computer.
 
My MacBook Pro is now my internet machine. Of course, the screen is tiny by comparison, but, hey, it's only internet. It's not as if I had to work on graphics or video.
 
And I've also just inherited a friend's old XP laptop, so that I'll finally be able to re-open old projects and run some PC-only synths that I was missing. That one is obviously kept offline, even though the big screen would probably make it a bit more comfortable for internet surfing...
 
 
 

eph221
 
 
 
David, there are better ways to go crazy than getting syphillis!

GETTING it is the fun part.  DEALING with it is a whole other story...

craigb
Ok, ok, ok...  Here it is.  A rare ACTUAL answer from me for your situation:
 
Get a cheap, used laptop (yes, you can find one for under $100 easily).  Just make sure it's running at least Windows 7 so you can see websites using HTML5 and the other new standards.  Now, put it in a workgroup with your DAW (usually the workgroup is, ingeniously, named WORKGROUP, but you can change this).  Now, type "Allow remote" into the start button area and make sure the laptop can accept remote access.  Then click on File Explorer and then Network (a folder at the bottom of the left side menu) and, after seeing the message that Network Discovery is turned off, click on the message to turn this on.  Do this on the DAW too.  Now you should be able to see the laptop from the DAW.  Right-click on the laptop icon from the DAW and select Connect With Remote Desktop Connection.  You are now viewing the laptop from your DAW.  Do your surfing here then simply minimize the window when you're not using it.  It will still be one click away.
 
Now, here are a couple of things you'll want to do to make things even better:
 
1)  On the laptop, keep it plugged in anywhere you want (preferably directly connected to your internet router) then go into Control Panel and Power Options.  Change the "What does closing the cover do?" to Nothing (when plugged in). Then change the power options settings for "When Plugged In" to Never (there should be two settings).  Now you can keep the laptop closed and never touch it, but it will always be accessible from the DAW.
 
2)  From the DAW File Explorer window (Network section), if you click-and-drag the laptop icon to your desktop, you can create a shortcut to the laptop.  Now you only need to right-click on the shortcut to select Connect With Remote Desktop Connection.
 
The above is exactly what I do with my work laptop so I can use my main computer's big screen (along with its keyboard and thumb-ball mouse).  Works great! 
 
Post-note:  Needless to say, the best "next step" would be to create a backup image of the laptop's OS.  Then, if it gets a virus from the Internet, you can simply restore it from the image and keep surfing!

Dude... That sounds amazing. I assume I could just plug the sound from the headphone jack on the laptop out to one of the ins on my audio interface to be able to use my monitors too.
 
This could seriously potentially be the solution to all my problems haha.
 
Of course like some others have said, my web browsing habits might not even truly be the source of my issues (although I am far more likely to have issues if Chrome is open, that's for certain)... But dude. Wow. That could be a really great solution...
 
Now I just gotta take a little time and try to set it up and see if it works... This could be a whole new me.

So no one told me I need Windows 10 PRO for this remote desktop thing... I think I'm gonna bite the bullet though and upgrade my laptop. Hopefully this really is the solution to all my problems or I'm out $99 haha.