Reader Questions, Answered with Evidence

A kernel driver has the technical privilege to access almost anything on your machine. Major vendors state that they look for cheats and integrity violations rather than personal documents, and we have not seen credible public evidence otherwise. But capability and behaviour are different questions; independent audits and clear privacy policies are how the gap is closed. See our kernel essay.

Loading early prevents a cheat driver from establishing itself before the anti-cheat. Riot Vanguard does this. It can be disabled from the system tray, though you will need to reboot before playing again.

Yes. Every detection method has an error rate. Use the official appeal route, describe your hardware and software accurately, and keep records of what you submitted. Avoid third-party "unban" services.

A ban tied to identifiers of your physical machine rather than your account. It is effective against repeat cheaters. In the EU such identifiers can count as personal data under GDPR, so you may ask the vendor what is stored and for how long.

Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye have supported Proton since 2021, but each developer must opt in. Some decline, judging user-mode protection insufficient for their game.

In online play, usually the same systems, often plus a platform client such as FACEIT's and sometimes webcam proctoring. At LAN events organisers control the PCs and add physical checks. Read Fair Play on the LAN Stage.

Ban waves deny cheat makers a clear signal about which update or behaviour triggered detection. The trade-off is that cheaters keep playing for a while.

It depends on the game's rules and the tournament rulebook. Many competitive titles forbid macros that automate input sequences. Check the specific rules before you rely on one.

Organisers, publishers and bodies such as the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC), often working with betting monitors. Match-fixing cases rely on demos, communications and wagering data rather than anti-cheat software.