Bristol_Jonesey
I'm with hockeyjx-  the only time my DAW is connected to the internet is when I need to download or update something.

+1 with BJ and Hockey. If your PC is for music production only there is absolutely no reason to be online except when updating. Stops unnecessary and inconvenient OS updates amongst other things. I use various wireless controllers but just run a separate cheap portable wireless router for the studio that is not online.

You mean except for all the reasons we just posted? 

Sanderxpander
You mean except for all the reasons we just posted? 

 
Actually, tenfoot directly answered the question:

If your PC is for music production only there is absolutely no reason to be online except when updating.

 
That's what I wanted to know. Everyone else just said what they do that suits their purposes, which is nice to know but I have no need to know.
 
Not sure what your reply is supposed to accomplish, other than trying to make me feel stupid for asking?

jyoung60
 
Not sure what your reply is supposed to accomplish, other than trying to make me feel stupid for asking?

I think he was responding to my post jyoung60, though your sentiment still stands:)
 

Sanderxpander
You mean except for all the reasons we just posted? 

All of the reasons listed involve the pc being used for purposes other than music production (email etc). Jyoung60 has a dedicated music production workstation. I have always had an offline sudio PC and believe there are many advantages to this. You are of course welcome to your own opinion.  Your comment seems to indicate you perhaps don't always extend this same courtesy to others
 

Always connected here. Absolutely no issues.

The bottom line is why run the risk when there's no need to?
 
I understand that many people stay connected 24/7 for lots of valid reasons.
None of these apply to me hence my decision to remain offline until I need to be online.
 

Haha sorry guys, I did not mean to offend, perhaps my wording was a little too sarcastic. But I feel that sending and receiving stems or mixes, updating/maintaining programs and looking up information or tutorials are normal parts of DAW use (of course I mean they are for me). While it is of course  possible to do these things through another separate online system, that's at the very least more time consuming and so for me a very valid reason to keep a DAW online, especially since I've personally never run into any of the mysterious issues that offline DAW users tend to warn about. On the other hand we often get people in here complaining how cumbersome it is that certain software doesn't authorize offline easily because they keep their system offline.
 
To each their own, I won't pretend that the Internet isn't potentially a dangerous place if the other side won't pretend that being online is pretty convenient. 

I can right click and enable my adapter to be online in less than 10 seconds. I'm not skerrred of bad things happening, I'm just taking a potential reason the DAW may have a hiccup out of the loop.

To be clear, I'm probably the least paranoid Internet user in the world, so working offline has no basis in fear. :)
 
My main reason for wanting to work offline is what others have already said, to avoid interruptions or sluggishness due to automatic updates, firewall/anti-virus software, etc.
 
The one fear I did have was preventing any online-based activity that SONAR needs for whatever reasons might exist.  But apparently there's no need to worry about that, so it's all good.
 
Thanks again for everyone's input.

While staying online is not going to a problem for most users, that doesn't mean it can't be.
 
If your network connection is over wi-fi, you should switch it off when not needed. Wi-fi is notorious for incurring excessive DPC overhead that can result in dropouts. Disabling wi-fi shouldn't cause any problems. But for wired connections, disabling the network can lead to problems with plugins whose licenses are tied to the network adapter's MAC address.