Is my Music Maker installation DVD a threat to my PC?
Q
I’ve had an installation DVD for Magix Music Maker 17 (pictured) knocking around for a long time, and have finally got around to installing it on my Windows 10 PC. During the installation process, however, my Kaspersky antivirus software warned me that it was software that could be used by criminals to damage my computer, so I decided to abort the installation.
I was surprised that it could be so risky.
Was I wise to abort, or do you think I could have continued safely? I would like to try Music Maker if possible. Alan Turk
A
Assuming that the DVD is an original, boxed copy that you bought from a legitimate, trusted retailer, we can’t imagine that the program on it was originally anything other than safe.
However, there are a couple of factors to consider. The first is that this version of Music Maker is well over a decade old, and was made for the world of Windows XP and 7. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s incompatible with Windows 10 or 11 (though we don’t have it to test), but it’s possible that it contains code that Kaspersky considers unsafe by modern standards.
Also, dodgy versions of the software are available for download online, and could contain viruses. Kasperky’s scanning engine will certainly be aware of this, so it could be triggering a warning based on that knowledge.
All considered, we think that in your case this is just a false positive and that it’s probably safe to proceed. However, we obviously can offer no guarantees, including whether this aged version of the program will run reliably in modern versions of Windows.