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.

Remove your antivirus. 
It suddenly becomes WAY too dangerous to surf the internet on your DAW.

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!!!!
 
 

Slugbaby
Remove your antivirus. 
It suddenly becomes WAY too dangerous to surf the internet on your DAW.

That sounds scary! I don't like it!

Beepster
 
SYPHILIS!!!!
 
 

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

but yer weiner wood fall off...
 
and AFAIK they stopped treating teh sypherz with silver a loooong time ago...
 
lulz

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
 

You actually leave your DAW to go to work? 

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. 

craigb
You actually leave your DAW to go to work? 

Haha yeah, I'm not quite there yet where this will be my sole source of income ;-) Luckily I have the best job ever... My family owns a record store. If I really wanted to I could set up a DAW here behind the desk... I'd probably REALLY junk this one up though while  messing around all day haha