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...
 
 
 

polarbear

Beepster
 
SYPHILIS!!!!
 
 

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

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

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...

wow the forum stopped notifying me of all your replies... i gotta read them all now... on my daw desktop in chrome of course...

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.

You shouldn't have to plug anything into the laptop (except the power cable and, optimally, an Ethernet cable directly to your router).  The sound comes out of the computer controlling the laptop already.

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.

polarbear
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.

Erm, Windows 10 Pro would have been a free upgrade for you as you already owned Windows 7 Pro. You wasted money.