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Report: Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) Scans Your DNS History
dotarray writes "If a recent report is to be believed, Valve is looking at your browsing history. Reportedly, the company's Valve Anti Cheat system (VAC) looks at all the domains you have visited, and if it finds that you've frequented hack sites, you'll be banned. 'The new functionality has been slammed by gamers, who claim it is "more like spyware than anti-cheat". Valve has not responded to the allegations, but all Steam users have agreed to abide by specific online conduct and not to use cheats. The company's privacy policy also explains that Valve may collect "personally identifiable information", but promises not to share it with other parties.'"
How do one set up rules to block Steam from accessing firefox profiles? (Linux obviously, though guide for Windows is fine too. Also Chrome.)
So security researchers who also game are pretty much screwed then?
Actually, the article doesn't say anyone has been banned using the data. It specifically says that NO one currently knows what happens with the data. So that's a pretty large red herring. That doesn't negate the heinousness of them tracking the websites you visit *just* in case you might cheat. Very NSA-esque.
For example a recent case was with World of Tanks. There was a botter who had been caught red handed, he was even silly enough to use his WoT user name as the bot forum user name. He was subsequently banned, but had a long winded argument with the support crying innocence, claiming it was a bad connection. The forumites even suggested he say that his son was disabled and used WoT as his only communication outlet. As a result quite a lot of legitimate WoT players visited this site (before the link was removed) simply to laugh and mock him. Does this mean all of us who went are all guilty of being cheaters?
I've been trying to switch my gaming purchases to GoG anyway, mainly because it's a pain to game on both a laptop and desktop with Steam. This is just another reason for it.
All GoG needs is to start supporting Linux...
I apologize for the lack of a signature.
I have no browsing history.
Clear history when firefox closes. check
So all I have to do to limit the competition is search a cheating site from my buddies computer?! Thanks for the tip!
Done.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
Yes, sure, if your dns cache is full of porn sites, one may be able do deduce that you're actively visiting porn sites, but there are lots of sites on blocked/porn net nanny lists that are not actually porn.
If your dns cache is full of right wing news sites, maybe you're right wing right? or wait, maybe you're not ,but you keep tabs on them, or maybe your brother used them.
For instance, back when i was playing WOW a lot, I was also authoring (legal) addons for it. Since one of the activities I was supporting with dual boxing/multi-boxing (one player playing on multiple characters at once (each through their own paid account - legal under the TOS of the game), I did need to tread carefully to keep from crossing the line into what they'd consider "botting" (automation that allows an account to play without human intervention). I did research on some of the bots / botting that was available at the time - as part of understaning the difference (I never downloaded or used one, but yes, I surfed around and very likely included some "bad sites"
My point being that dns histroy is only the grossest of measures of what you're doing on your pc - yes, it may be true that someone who never visits hack sitex/cheat sites will be less likely to have them show up on dnscache, but if they're active in gaming forums or if they're jus plain inquisitive, they could so easily be falesly accused.
Someone who is actually cheating would likely be able to quickly figure out that they should use another computer to download/browse and/or ipconfig /flushdns before playing, etc...
Like most all copy protection - it only stops the casual user and inconveniences many legit users. Anyone actively cheating with any amount of effort will easily avoid this.
Yeah,
The Digital Sorceress
I've known gamers to frequent cheat sites just to see what the cheaters are using and what is possible to exploit When a legitimate player suddenly faces inexplicable challenges sometimes they go find where people are downloading their skills/advantages from in order to explain their new struggles. Often times it starts with the feeling "that HAS to be a cheat" then digging around finding if there is a cheat the enables that behavior.
Keep in mind they're talking about the VAC software and not the steam client. VAC runs when you run a game that supports it. (The wiki page has a list of games though I do not know how up to date it is.) The Steam client doesn't do this reporting itself.
The article is based on a REDDIT post. We all know they are always 100% accurate and credible. They did catch the boston bombers afteralll!
journalism at its finest.
Obviously it blocks malicious behavior such as this.
Perhaps its time to put certain applications, such as web browsers in their own "VM appliance" to isolate them from being spied on or misused by other apps.
In the meantime, get into the habit of using your browser's "privacy mode."
If games and other apps that don't "need" to work with your other applications can run in a VM without an unacceptable performance hit, consider putting them in such a box as well.
If your OS supports running apps in sandboxes/jails and your favorite games work well in such an environment, that may be easier than putting them in a full-blown VM.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
That's why my steam client and games are confined to an AppArmor profile.
How do one set up rules to block Steam from accessing firefox profiles? (Linux obviously, though guide for Windows is fine too. Also Chrome.)
The only useful workaround is to boycott steam. Otherwise they will work around your workarounds till they finally just install a Sony rootkit. Do you really want a company that even takes even one step over the line? teach them a lesson.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
where you bank, where you talk politics, who your friends are, what your secrets are...
I still haven't purchased a single game that requires Steam, Microsoft Live or the like. It sucks, but it is what it is. I fully intend to do whatever it takes to defend my First Sale Doctrine rights and purchase physical versions I can re-sell later on. Until these rights are extended to digital goods, I'm gonna die one grumpy dude playing CIV II, III and IV, but never V, Dawn of War and all the expansions, but never DoW II and so many other titles.
At least I have my PS3, and so far, PS4 titles that don't require Online Passes...
I'm voting with my dollars.
This story is being debunked in the original reddit thread.
http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1y4za5/steams_vac_now_reads_all_the_domains_you_have/
Indeed, it also says the the actual entries themselves are not sent back, but only the hashes. This would not stop someone checking if Joe has visited a specific site, but it would stop someone from looking at all Joes history to find out what he's been up to.
I'd guess that they are not looking for *web*sites related to cheats, but rather the servers that provide software updates etc. for the cheats.
I thought the point of playing a game was to relieve stress. Getting online to play something is starting to become more involved and complex than most people's jobs. It is kind of a shame, though, that people take Counterstrike and Call of Duty so seriously that they need to scam the system. Defeats the purpose, no?
Luckily, not everyone lives in the US.
Some countries have different laws, even consumer protection laws that are worth that name.
And yes, even companies operating out of the US have to conform to at least some of these laws if they want to do business in Germany/Europe. An yes, they WANT to, because Europe is not an insignificant market.
> Indeed, it also says the the actual entries themselves are not sent back, but only the hashes
DNS names are easily enumeratable, the only reason to emphasize that it's hashes is if you're clueless or dishonest.
From a privacy perspective, they are sending back DNS names, saying that's hashes is only fooling people.
In any case, Valve can do what they so choose,
Bullshit. They cannot do things thay violate the law (not saying this does or doesn't in any jurisdiction). It also does not pur Valve above criticism even if this tired excuse line wasn't bullshit.
One agreed to this when logging and downloading their software, and this EULA/TOS will stand up in any court in the US.
While this particular EULA may, just because someone enters into a contract does not make it legally valid. See illegal contracts.
Only thing one can do is not use their service.
No, one can do many other things such as loudly criticize them, report them to the country's consumer protection group, etc.
flush the dns cache before you launch steam:
on a mac that command is:
sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
However since steam is normally installed with admin permissions it may very well be running some sort of spyware deamon that is violating your privacy even when the application is not running, making that dodge useless. Since they are willing to go that far I would not put it past them to also be running a spyware daemon as well.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
... unless an employee decides to use it, a secret order of the NSA requires to disclose it, their servers get hacked (by the NSA, other countries intelligence agencies, hacking groups, or script kiddies) or the protocol have a vulnerability or the information can be captured and decrypted. The respect of privacy by US companies had become an oximoron. Is a promise that they can't possibly honor, and they are too big to close doors like Lavabit if the NSA want their customers data.
Unlike in 'murica, in the civilized world the answer to corporate misbehavior is not to simply continuing taking it up the butt. I know, I know. It's ebil "socialism"!!!!!!
The amount of comments are only a third of what they were before, but articles get posted more often.
Haven't seen as many spambots, so not all bad. Still get modded troll when I post for some reason, so not much has changed with the community make-up.
You should be isolating your web browsing on a vm you use only for that anyway.
The easiest thing to do is, is created a batch script that empties your history and flushes your DNS. After that, it opens steam. Assign your steam icon to that batch file. Problem solved.
I'm not so sure.
1. Are you sure the EULA actually states that they may monitor your non-steam related activities? I would appreciate a pointer to the relevant paragraph if so.
2. My understanding is that it's still somewhat up in the air exactly how legally binding an EULA really is. Though I doubt most people could afford a good enough lawyers to press the issue
3. Even assuming the EULA is binding, it's generally accepted that a contract cannot demand that either party surrender their constitutional rights, and the 9th Amendment specifically states that the enumerated rights are only a sampling, not a comprehensive list, or even a list of the most important, and in no way should be interpreted to detract from the importance of the rights not so enumerated. Privacy included.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
run your cheat browsing in a VM.
Problem solved...
WHY HELLO, MY FELLOW LOYAL, SLASHDOT-READING COMRADE. LET US TALK OF DNS CACHES AND GAME SUBSCRIPTIONS AND VALVE AND STUFF.
[whisper] Would you shut up? You're gonna get us killed. All the first wave of revolutionaries have already been lined up against the wall and shot. Keep it under the radar. Now see if you can sneak over to the Facebook love analysis article, and another resistance operative will brief you there.[/whisper]
It'll no doubt get used as features. Correlate DNS lookups to someone caught cheating, find other users with similar patterns, watch/ban them.
It wouldn't, for example, prevent anyone from cheating by doing some browsing at the local coffee shop to find the cheats and then coming home to play games on the desktop system at home.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
If an individual does something like this, you can bet the government would charge them with computer crime under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. If a company does it, nothing gets done.
Nope I was redirected to beta again this morning.
time to uninstall steam and stop getting anything from valve
so now no one with a CS degree can play on steam!? REALLY!? who the hell thought this was a good idea...
The question is not whether Steam is doing it.
The real question is what is there to stop them from doing this, or worse. Now, or in the future.
Steam is a company, it won't die with the death of its dictator-in-chief. Today we a graced with benevolent chap, but the next chap might decide to tighten the screws.
So, what you gonna do about it?
Me, I personally thought about complaining to UK office for fair trade (or some such name) about potential case of tying here, which is illegal in UK. But other than that, I have no idea what one can do. Tying means selling you one product but also implicitly tying into using another service, where you can't use product you bought without using the service also.
I have a non-addictive personality in general... perhaps it would be more accurate to say "anti-addictive" as there have been times when I would go overboard with some activities. X-Wing vs Tie Fighter, for example, cost me hundreds of dollars in "sick days" after calling in to work because I wanted to accomplish something. (Sick and stupid right?) I came to my senses after a paycheck demonstrated the value of my lost time. Anyway, I don't really play games which are time consuming and/or deeply involving... not often anyway.
But if I were a gamer, I would be intensely offended by Valve's activities. Then again, I spent some really late nights playing Halo 2 losing sleep and feeling miserable... yeah... I did it again. Didn't cost me money, but cost me in health and rest and all that. It was while playing that and similar games that I really appreciated how much I hate cheaters. Aim-bots and all this other crap just served to anger me...which kept me awake playing. Eventually, I woke up to what I was doing (again) and restored myself to healthier ways. But I do know cheaters see cheating as a game in and of itself which is why they do it.
So I understand why Valve wants to do it but as a Bill of Rights guy, I am deeply disturbed and disgusted by Valve's actions as well. (Yes, I know Valve isn't government but the principles have a way of bleeding into all walks and areas of life and it's quite likely that they are sharing data with government as just about everyone seems to be. Go visit Dick's Sporting Goods and see how much information they try to get from you when you buy guns and/or ammo. Holy crap it's scary and disgusting. And they CERTAINLY and DEFINITELY share data with the government electronically.)
I'm not going to say I don't care about this or that I don't have a dog in this fight. I do. I see many of the principles laid out in the BoR as common sense and as a structure for how to maintain mutual respect for various parties not only government.
Personally, I think people should stop playing shooting games and buy real guns and ammo. It's harder to cheat, for one, but is more expensive to be sure. But the effect of practice and skill certainly serve to trigger those accomplishment feelings. Also, PC gamers can also appreciate the desire to acquire high performance devices of all sorts ranging from scopes to lasers and all sorts of creative and amusing shotgun ammo. Caution: Guns and Ammo are expensive... way more than PC gaming. But the fun is unquestionable.
Stop using the software and services of these rights offenders entirely. They need to understand where the line should be drawn.
So Valve wants to do market research, how about pay me for it? Even my dns data history is my data, not yours.
Doing this under guise of cheat prevention is total BS...
In fact unless this is specifically mentioned in contracts i believe this would in many countries be totally illegal to do.
If they really want to catch cheaters, they should try do that in-game and make their game unhackable.
Just because someone reads about hacks, docent mean he uses them. I for one like to know what it looks liek when someone hacks so i can report them... Its like putting all chemist in prison just in case because some chemist manufactures drugs...
The DNS cache is then stored on the proxy server rather than on your own. You'll only have the proxy information on your computer.
DNS names are easily enumeratable, the only reason to emphasize that it's hashes is if you're clueless or dishonest.
From a privacy perspective, they are sending back DNS names, saying that's hashes is only fooling people.
Oh? If they're really easily enumerable, pray tell, which DNS name does the following hash point to?
c0ff3e297157c1e60bc2a2bedb5f6532
Use another user profile on your box to play the game that is not an admin. Problem solved
There's no way just looking at your browser history would lead to possible abuses.
Also, do you have to look at so much lesbian porn all the time? There are other things on the Internet, you know.
That doesn't negate the heinousness of them tracking the websites you visit *just* in case you might cheat.
They aren't tracking websites you visit. They are tracking your DNS-requests. They are not the same thing, DNS-requests only show what domain names your system has queried and doesn't even say if the queries have come from the browser, IM, games or anything else -- there is no way for Valve to deduce the websites you've been visiting from these if there's more than one site behind the domain, like e.g. many blogging platforms and such host thousands of blogs under a single domain-name.
These are different things.
Also, not to apologize for Valve, but there are games far more invasive than this. Some NFS games (NFS:S2U for one) will trawl your actual browser history to put targeted ads on in-game advertising surfaces. Unless you use a software firewall to block their Internet access ;-)
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Going on a website and getting the info is 1 thing but using that info to your use might be another thing. For example I could go on a cheating website to report it to steam at the end but I have to at least go on the website to verify if the app is available. To steam unfortunately it doesn't matter but it should. The lack of effort from Steams side is surprising as they should involve its users in the fight against cheats instead of fighting against users. Users pay for games, I'm pretty sure some of them wouldn't mind report cheats as I don't know a person who likes to get cheated in games.
PC Gaming enthousiast that gives comments, opinions and reviews on Games. I'm just having fun with games while doing let
Disconnect from net, Open command prompt, Type: ipconfig /flushdns
Reconnect net.
Oh, wait. I'm a slash-dotter. I have lots of computers. So I'll Steam on one computer and get cheats on another. Sorry Valve.
linquendum tondere
Its related to your dns cache. In windows you type ipconfig /displaydns to get the info steam could use against you but doing a ipconfig /flushdns might do the trick to flush what steam would use but i don't know when steam fetch the info so the best way is to either use a proxy (some are free as well) or use VM. If you have Windows 7, you could use the XP Mode and after doing some test, whatever you do or go on xp mode, the dns of your host is still clean. So do your cheat or browsing in xp mode then close it down and your dns will always be clean.
PC Gaming enthousiast that gives comments, opinions and reviews on Games. I'm just having fun with games while doing let
Sounds like they are solving the wrong issue. The issue isn't what sites I go to and to be frank that's none of their damned business. I don't cheat on multiplayer, but on single player I download trainers because I don't want to waste time grinding most of the time, and my enjoyment comes from the story. Online cheating punishes the whole server and to think that Steam can solve the issue like this is just plain wrong. This just punishes people for browsing and doesn't stop the cheaters.
Just don't support valve with your money for pulling crap like that.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Browsing the internet only from a VM is actually the most secure way to do so whether or not you're running Steam. With a VM, you can do some browsing, click on all the most depraved and unsavoury sites and then close it down and revert to a snapshot.
You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
...but all Steam users have agreed to abide by specific online conduct and not to use cheats.
So?
Doesn't necessarily mean "any means necessarily" is necessarily what they agreed to, or legal - especially something to goes that far without being explicitly confined. *sighs* I wish people who cite the EULA, etc not as an argument, but as a shutout to opposing arguments would just shut up and learn that it doesn't cancel out all arguments, particularly since it being written doesn't necessarily mean it's legal, nor does it negate that people will/can have an opinion about it.
If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
c0ff3e ...
Starbucks.com
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
Oh? If they're really easily enumerable, pray tell, which DNS name does the following hash point to?
c0ff3e297157c1e60bc2a2bedb5f6532
I have no idea, but even you must be able to see that it would be trivial to put together a lookup table of the top million or so domain names indexed on their corresponding hashes. From that you can easily work out the domain name from the hash, without actually reversing the hash function.
"The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
In case you're not familiar with Steam and VAC, it doesn't work worth a shit and people cheat all the time. It's a complete joke that makes even Punkbuster look good. MW3 was a huge budget game that was ruined by cheaters. It's a complete mess roughly equivalent to a low budget game like Renegade where over 50% of people are shooting through walls with unlimited ammo, etc. That's all on top of VAC too, which does NOTHING.
What he means is that there are rainbow tables available for many MD5 hashes. There is software that can search hundreds of thousands of possible hashes per second. You don't need to calculate the MD5 hash over, you just have to do a simple text compare, followed by a lookup in the rainbow table. If you have a rainbow table of the major hack sites in which you're interested, I bet it doesn't take more than a second or two to determine if the hash you sent is of one of those sites. Maybe that doesn't fit your definition of easily enumerable, but it fits mine.
Don't believe anything I say. I crash test crack pipes for a living.
"more like spyware than anti-cheat"
Sums up pretty much every "anti-cheat" and "drm" system I've ever seen..
... allow for harvesting of information on your computer. If you read the full agreement you'll see that it specifically states, "By using Valve's online sites, products, and services, users agree that Valve may collect personally identifiable information (as defined below)."
No where does it say they will go through your DNS cache. At best, the policy covers things such as your Name, Address, Phone Number, CC #, etc for billing purposes, and the use of cookies and the like.
Unfortunately the Steam TOS has a binding arbitration clause which effectively keeps you from suing them. (See section 12 of the Steam TOS)
Linky things:
Valve Privacy Policy: http://store.steampowered.com/...
Steam TOS: http://store.steampowered.com/...
Most people have an old p/c lying around that's not up to gaming anmore, or a cell phone. Visit the cheat sites on those and Valve will never be the wiser. This is a non-event now that it's known about. The spyware aspect is another issue though.
Disable the DNS Client Service in Windows to avoid this tracking from Valve and others.
I don't play these games. I have been considering getting a SteamBox when they become generally available. I have a free HDMI port on my TV. But this, along with other things that I have read about Valve, has made me decide to not get hooked. I play some nice games on my Android. Maybe not as action packed as on a console, but I'm 61 and have slow reflexes.
Just one more reason to avoid Steam, and that's even considering that TFA is largely bogus and bans based on this data gathering are a myth.
But that a fucking game center spies on your browser history is crazy. It has no fucking business doing that. Prevent 3rd party tools from accessing the games and modifying them in-memory, etc. - fine with me, that's what I expect with an anti-cheat software. Gather statistics on my online browsing habbits? Quite honestly, this should be illegal and carry jailtime penalties. Why are we giving corporations stalking permissions when private people can go to jail for much less?
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Gaming rig for gaming, general purpose rig for porn, finding hacks and cheats, and everything else. Duh.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
This is the same thing as saying that since I own a gun and ammo, that because having those things allows me to kill people, that I am already a killer.
Just because you went to a hack site, it doesn't mean that you use those hacks on a Steam game. Personally, it feels like Valve is just getting lazy in detecting hacking activity and is just going after people who look at those sites.
then its time to pull out a second system for web searching and bring in your cheats via flash drive. Steam can only check the system it is running on
Given how one of the main points of SteamOS is it's openness - does it make sense to have VAC on it?
I mean, it's a LOT easier to make a Linux kernel module that finds out what the VAC (or Steam) processes are, then having the kernel module modify responses to hide stuff from it.
I mean, lets say you have an aimbot or other cheat. You can run it on SteamOS, and have the kernel module hide that process (or even the fact network packets are redirected through it) so VAC can't even run anymore.
And I don't see VAC as a kernel module as every component in SteamOS is supposed to be replaceable so even compiling a new kernel is an option.
So I guess the question is - how is Valve protecting against SteamOS cheaters? It's a lot harder to do it on Windows since you have to do a lot of hooking and kernel signing and all that (plus trusting random binaries), whereas on Linux it's way easier to hook things.
They are just mining browser history until they get the pre-cogs on-line.
Once you allow custom software and especially device drivers to run on a box, it is theoretically impossible to automatically discover what that software is capable of doing. Any workarounds are sleazy in some way. Even basic DRM hides stuff and restricts rights of the legitimate owner of the hardware and software.
In this case, the alternative is no or ineffective VAC and, accordingly, not much fun in multiplayer games. I guess it would be nice if Valve gave users the option to opt out of VAC and play on special open servers or only with specific trusted players.
Back when I was a fansite and game admin I'd check the hack sites once per week or so to keep tabs on things.
the $94,000 question is
Is it using System V or System D to look up the dns cache ???????
"I don't pitch OpenSUSE Linux to my friends, i let Microsoft do it for me
Happily enough, Alexa offers a download of the top million domains. Even calculating the MD5 hash for every domain every time and doing a simple string comparison using node.js, it takes only a couple of seconds to run through every single entry in that table.
arth1's domain isn't in the top million list, though.
But still, there are plenty of sites in the top million list you may not want to share with Valve that you visit, like #83, pornhub.com, or #84, huffingtonpost.com.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
Her name happens to be Borderlands 2 --- yeah, her parents are strange -- will Valve help me find out who she's seeing?
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
Some guy has decompiled (what he claims to be) a VAC (Valve Anti Cheat) module that seems to be downloaded and executed when you connect to a game server. He has found code that scans the dns cache, hashes the domain name and adds it to an array.
Its not clear what is done with the data - whether it is compared against a blacklist sent by the server, whether it is used as an anti-proxy measure to verify that the VAC module was downloaded from the correct server, or whether this data is indeed sent to Valve. Tellingly, the guy who found the code where Valve scans the dns cache, has not found any code where this data gets sent to Valve.
So until someone actually finds code that sends this data off to Valve, I'm leaving the pitchfork party early.
See also: http://www.reddit.com/r/Global...
SURELY NOT!!!!!
Home Owners' Associations
They're almost the perfect example of American Greed: "We forbid _you_ from doing anything that might affect _our_ property values."
Fascists.
I believe your account of how a proxy server works with a web browser would cause an SSL certificate warning on every https site. Among other problems.
I think you are a fucking retard.
You have a bizarre understanding of contract law. Luckily it has no basis in reality or a simple thing like a non disclosure agreement would be impossible.
I just want to play I don't want all of your bullshit. Between anti-piracy hoops, spying, forcing Internet connectivity and removing LAN functionality it just isn't worth it.
When you play "Valve Anti-Cheat" (VAC) enabled games, you agree to allow Valve to scan your computer for evidence of cheat/hack programs. This is what VAC does. It's like Punkbuster, Warden, etc - depending on your point of view, it tries to level the playing field for multiplayer games, or it is an invasion of privacy because you have the right to cheat all you want.
Valve's VAC, Blizzard's Warden, etc are all "spyware" by definition. Their job is to find and collect evidence of suspected game-tampering cheats, both known and unknown, and report them. They already sniff your running processes, window titles, loaded drivers, USB devices, filesystem, etc. Scanning your local DNS cache is probably one of the least invasive things that VAC does, *and it only happens when you play games which advertise the VAC feature*.
If you don't like this, don't play VAC-enabled multiplayer games. It's that simple.
What blogging platform hosts thousands of blogs under a single domain name?
Support my political activism on Patreon.
Thank-you for linking to a page the reinforces, not debunks the original article.
On the Firefox help channel a user complained that attempting to upgrade Firefox asked it to reboot their machine, which Firefox never asks unless the firefox.exe process is "in use" by some unknown other process.
The user then found out what process had hooked into the firefox.exe by attempting to delete it and Windows told them the process that had it in use was the STEAM SERVICE.
captcha: ALERTS
and when Windows tells you the process is in use Unlocker can tell you which processes those are.
Guess what you'll find?
One of them will be the STEAM SERVICE!
captcha: HIJACKED
(1) give your VM access to your PCIe graphics with your IOMMU
(2) play Quake in your VM
(3) pew pew pew
I don't use/allow steam or similar programs or services. True or not it's a headache I don't need.
ipconfig /flushdns
Must be true if it's on reddit :)
So, would you be okay with everyone knowing that you hit goatse.cx every day at 11pm?
There are tons of solutions to bypass such monitoring. Anyone growing up in grade school knows how to break the system, or anyone trying to circumvent a filter at work.
Me? If I were the cheating kind, I'd browse the hacking websites through a VPN and then play regularly on my personal laptop. Or use any one of the privacy-oriented Linux distros available.
How about public libraries, coffeehouses, and other pools of ne'er-do-wells? There's lots of options to circumvent this nonsense.
But at the end of the day we need to speak with our WALLETS and not our WORDS. Stop buying their products if they will snoop so vigorously at your history. You shouldn't be treated guilty before proved innocent.
Just in case no one mentioned it already; The VAC update is scanning fro streaming cheats supplied by cheat sites running servers to host the cheats. Instead of the user having the cheat on their computer a server will stream a cheat to the user. These are paid for private cheats not your average google search and download.
It's totally simple. If I'm using my hardware for something where I don't have control over the software, that specific software will find a completely plain installation with nothing. That installation of the OS is used exactly only for that purpose of hosting that software. Vacuum all the data you want.
Especially for games this is easy to fulfil. It's not that they're being played in a multi-tasking environment with other things going on at the same time. So why should these other things even exist.
Valve has responded and stated very convincingly that this accusation is crap.
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming...
Basically, they're looking only for the DRM servers used by some very specific kernel-level cheats (apparently even cheats have DRM now - and these are not web sites, but DRM servers they're looking for, you won't trigger it by searching for or even buying cheats unless you use them). They do this comparison client-side, transmitting only if there is a match, and only transmitting the hashed value (which is used so the VAC servers can confirm it was a cheat when issuing the ban - otherwise one would be able to forge a "cheat" and get someone else banned). They also only do this scan at all if VAC has detected the cheat in the first place, which they claim has affected less than 0.1% of their users.
Valve is explicitly denying that they are gathering your browser history.
So my overall analysis:
1) If what they say is true, then they're doing everything they can to *not* gather your browsing history, and are only gathering the hashed value to protect users.
2) This should be possible to verify - see if the code doing the checks is triggered at all during normal use, and see what a packet sniffer picks up.
3) Even though I like Valve a lot, after recent events (Snowden, some personal betrayals, etc.) I feel I can't trust anybody. I'll let others do the verification (I'm not technically skilled enough to trust my own work on it), but if it turns out that this is all they are doing, it's a good thing that is very, very close to being a bad thing. If, however, they are not just spying on us but then lying about it, I will be downloading a Steam crack immediately (I spent over $1000 on Steam games, they're mine no matter what the law says) and taking everything into offline mode.
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1y70ej/valve_vac_and_trust/
I turn it off: It lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size datastructure that's inflexible (+ POORLY default 'aged' as to items in it being replaced, & SLOW on that too, causing 'thrash')
E.G. -> That dnscache clientside service causes HUGE "lags" IF on!
You CAN 'tune' the TTL in it for it but it's pointless to RUN then imo (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since the hosts file gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem, like any file is).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in memory by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE & FAR FASTER subsystem vs. usermode + loaded with my fav sites @ the top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms notged below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my histories of many kinds in browsers, etc. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for reasons of security vs. known servers of malware/botnets/maliciously coded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al): My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> IF You're correct (I didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apk
I turn it off: It lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size datastructure that's inflexible (+ POORLY default 'aged' as to items in it being replaced, & SLOW on that too, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL in it for it - but then, it's pointless to RUN then imo (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since the hosts file gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem, like any file is).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in memory by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE & FAR FASTER subsystem vs. usermode + loaded with my fav sites @ the top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms notged below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my histories of many kinds in browsers, etc. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for reasons of security vs. known servers of malware/botnets/maliciously coded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al): My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=>Still, from what I've read here (I didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app (since it is told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apk
Turn off Windows FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service - It lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size datastructure that's inflexible (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW then, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL parametert for it - but then, it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem, like any file is).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem vs. usermode + loaded with my fav sites @ the top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms noted below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my histories of many kinds in browsers, etc. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for reasons of security vs. known servers of malware/botnets/maliciously coded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> From what I've read here (didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app (since it's told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apk
Turn off Windows' FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service - It lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size inflexible datastructure (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW then, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL parametert for it - but then, it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem, like any file is).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem vs. usermode + loaded with my fav sites @ the top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms noted below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my histories of many kinds in browsers, etc. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for reasons of security vs. known servers of malware/botnets/maliciously coded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> From what I've read here (didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app (since it's told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apk
Turn off Windows' FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service - It lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size inflexible datastructure (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW then, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL parametert for it - but then, it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem, like any file is).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem vs. usermode + loaded with my fav sites @ the top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms noted below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my histories of many kinds in browsers, etc. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for reasons of security vs. known servers of malware/botnets/maliciously coded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> From what I've read here (didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app (since it's told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apk
Turn off Windows' FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service - It lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size inflexible datastructure (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW then, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL parametert for it - but then, it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem, like any file is).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem vs. usermode + loaded with my fav sites @ the top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms noted below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my histories of many kinds in browsers, etc. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for reasons of security vs. known servers of malware/botnets/maliciously coded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> From what I've read here (didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app (since it's told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apk
Correction (see subject) & turn off Windows' FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service - It lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size inflexible datastructure (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW then, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL parametert for it - but then it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem like any file).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem (vs. usermode) + loaded w/ my fav sites @ the top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms noted below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my browser historie. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for security reasons vs. known servers of malware/botnets/maliciously coded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> From what I've read here (didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app (since it's told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apk
Has HUGE benefits WHY I do - read on: Windows' FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service - It lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size inflexible datastructure (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW then, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL parameters for it - then it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem like any file).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem (vs. usermode) + loaded w/ my fav sites @ top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms noted below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my histories of many kinds in browsers, etc. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for security reasons vs. known servers of malware/botnets/malicoded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> From what I've read here (didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app (since it's told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apk
Windows' FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service - It lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size inflexible datastructure (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW then, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL parameters for it - then it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem like any file).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem (vs. usermode) + loaded w/ my fav sites @ top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms noted below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my histories of many kinds in browsers, etc. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for security reasons vs. known servers of malware/botnets/malicoded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> From what I've read here (didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app (since it's told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apk
Why? Great benefits & Windows' FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service - It lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size inflexible datastructure (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW then, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL parameters for it - then it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem like any file).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem (vs. usermode) + loaded w/ my fav sites @ top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms noted below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my histories of many kinds in browsers, etc. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for security reasons vs. known servers of malware/botnets/malicoded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> From what I've read here (didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app (since it's told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apk
I turn dnscache off: Windows' FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size inflexible datastructure (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW then, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL parameters for it - then it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem like any file).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem (vs. usermode) + loaded w/ my fav sites @ top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms noted below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my histories of many kinds in browsers, etc. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for security reasons vs. known servers of malware/botnets/malicoded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> From what I've read here (didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app (since it's told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apk
Turn OFF Windows' FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service - It lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size inflexible datastructure (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW then, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL parameters for it - then it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem like any file).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem (vs. usermode) + loaded w/ my fav sites @ top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms noted below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my histories of many kinds in browsers, etc. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for security reasons vs. known servers of malware/botnets/malicoded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> From what I've read here (didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app (since it's told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apk
Benefits too: Windows' FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service - It lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size inflexible datastructure (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW then, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL parameters for it - then it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem like any file).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem (vs. usermode) + loaded w/ my fav sites @ top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms noted below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my histories of many kinds in browsers, etc. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for security reasons vs. known servers of malware/botnets/malicoded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> From what I've read here (didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app (since it's told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apk
Youtube?
Benefits too: Turn off Windows' FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service - It lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size inflexible datastructure (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW then, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL parameters for it - then it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem like any file).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem (vs. usermode) + loaded w/ my fav sites @ top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms noted below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my histories of many kinds in browsers, etc. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for security reasons vs. known servers of malware/botnets/malicoded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> From what I've read here (didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app (since it's told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apk
Windows' FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service lags w/ large hosts files since it's built on a fixed-size inflexible datastructure (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW then, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL parameters for it - then it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem like any file).
I offset loss of index speed (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem (vs. usermode) + loaded w/ my fav sites @ top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built up since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms noted below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read in fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my histories of many kinds in browsers, etc. & firewall logs study over time here to determine that)
It's large for security reasons vs. known servers of malware/botnets/malicoded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking etc. - et al) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> From what I've read here (didn't 'RTFA'): I'm able to tell their app (since it's told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE..."/quote>... apkb
Turn OFF Windows' FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service - It lags w/ large hosts files & built on a fixed-size inflexible datastructure (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW then, causing 'thrash')
Yes, You CAN 'tune' the TTL parameters for it - then it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem like any file).
I offset loss of indexing (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) by having the hosts file cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem (vs. usermode) + loads w/ my fav sites @ top of hosts so they are good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking out adbanners (up to 40% of site pages on avg.).
(My hosts file's HUGE built since 1997 initially for speed gains by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later, 2002 onwards vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms noted below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ & growing line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ top so they read in fast & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my browser histories etc. & firewall logs study over time here)
It's large for security reasons vs. known servers of malware/botnets/malicoded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking (etc. - et al) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in the rest of my hosts file.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
APK
P.S.=> I beat their app (since it's told ZERO) "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE" + get ALL of the benefits of added speed, security, reliability, & anonymity hosts yield: BONUS!/quote>... apk
Turn off Windows' FLAWED clientside local usermode dnscache service - It lags w/ large hosts files: It's built on a fixed-size inflexible datastructure (+ POORLY default 'aged' w/ items in it being replaced & SLOW with 'thrash')
You CAN try 'tune' the TTL parameters for it - then it's pointless to RUN it (wasting CPU cycles, RAM, & other forms of I/O since hosts gets cached by the OS kernelmode diskcaching subsystem like any file).
I offset loss of indexing (since USERMODE slower local dns clientside cache = OFF here) w/ hosts cached in RAM by the OS diskcaching KERNELMODE subsystem!
A far FASTER subsystem (vs. usermode) + loaded w/ my fav sites @ top of hosts so they're good to ~ 3 million lines of indexed dns entries (do the math) + blocking adbanners (up to 40% of site pagesize on avg.).
(My hosts = HUGE built since 1997 initially for speed gain by adblocks + fav site inserts for faster local in RAM resolutions of ip addresses for domains, & later 2002 onwards, vs. 'malcode' of ALL forms below, to currently being @ a 2,223,640++ line item recordsize - 24 fav. sites of mine @ the top so they read fast, & I spend a GOOD 99% of my online time @ those from my browser histories + firewall logs study here)
It's large for security reasons vs. known servers of malware/botnets/malcoded sites + bogus DNS servers, adblocking, tracker, & spammer/phisher blocking (etc) + My favs list isn't big, nor do I attempt to "resolve all the hosts-domains on the internet" in hosts.
* I create hosts from 12 reputable & reliable sources via this program I created in 2003 + released in late 2012-> http://start64.com/index.php?o...
I get bennies in added speed, security, reliabiilty (vs redirects) + anonymity & show their a "Move along - NOTHING to see HERE"
APK
P.S.=> Beat 'beta' redirect (Add 2 lines to hosts as favs @ top w/ faster resolution locally in RAM & 1st DNS resolver QUERIED = hosts))
216.34.181.45 slashdot.org
216.34.181.45 beta.slashdot.org
... apk
Yes, steam monitors me. I'm cool with it because I enjoy online games. Because of the way games are built there has to be anti-cheat systems. The stronger the better. If they ask every gamer to bend over I'll be the first in line to get to games with no cheaters. I want the game to be as fair as possible, but because of the way games are made some (mostly kids i hope) feel the need to cheat to feel better about themselves.
I completely understand writing and creating cheats as a technical challenge, but using them in game without telling the other players is just low. Wouldn't really care about the games that have "experience" systems as part of the game mechanics, as they aren't skill based competitive anyways, so who cares if you skip the 7 years of menial work, but the games that are based on player skills, the competitive games, cheating in those just breaks the game for everyone, including the cheater.
I guess the next thing to do is to start making websites with hidden iframes that loads pages of "questionable" content so that it will posion your DNS history. You may not have actually seen the "questionable content" in question, but your browser certainly loaded the content which in technical terms would fall in-line with the profile of this "anti-cheating" system.
It's as if you are assumed guilty of any sex crime simply by walking through the red-light district.
But I already my own unified launcher, though. It's called desktop environment. Other than than, yes, Steam has some pluses to it.
DNS-cache doesn't cache the times you access the domain, either, or how often. They only cache the fact that such a domain has been queried. It doesn't even say that it has been you who queried the domain -- it could be your IM-application when someone throws you a link to that domain, it could be your browser that just queries the domains for all the links on a site or something completely different.
You're right, it doesn't record the date. But if you monitor it all the time, you'll see the entries come in. And they will have to come in eventually as it is a cache - entries don't stay cached in perpetuity if not regularly visited. OTOH, if the entry does remain in the cache past the usual TTL (which is known), then that website was visited at least once in that period.
Re: IM and browser querying domains... you'll have to explain that to other people when someone tries to blackmail you like that.
OTOH, if the entry does remain in the cache past the usual TTL (which is known), then that domain was queried at least once in that period.
Fixed that for you.
Re: IM and browser querying domains... you'll have to explain that to other people when someone tries to blackmail you like that.
Eh. I don't. Everyone knows I'm a creep.
Oh, but if everyone does it, then it must be legal, right?
Everyone speeds. So close the rules against it.
Everyone pirates. So close the rules against it.
They and you can have you EULAs "because everyone does it" if I can pirate it instead "because everyone does it".
Deal?
Why should it look, even if it's not sending the results off the computer? Why should the agreement stipulate that I must agree to this happening?
This is why Steam IS NOT "Good DRM". You have to agree to a license to use the game every time you try to install or run it online and that "agreement" isn't going to be the one you agreed to it when you made the purchase.
And the DRM ensures you MUST agree. Can't play or install from backup without agreeing to the CURRENT "agreement" because the DRM refuses to let it run.
What sites do you have to visit to be blocked by steam?
I would like to know so I can load non existant images from them in my forum posts.
And if you're getting hacks only for non steam games, and they cut you off, isn't that THEM violating the contract? And where in the steam contract anyways does it say they are entitled to look at your private browsing history? And re offline mode, Valve says there's no time limit and the users say there is.. Who's right?
You made me lol alot. Just for the record, i'm not american, i'm not even close to USA.
Europe has tons of companies selling weapon grade malwares to dictatorships, france has stupid and invasive laws like HADOPI. And what do europeans do about it? Squat, nada. They whine about it. Because thats all you europeans do, whine. But hey, next time you are in trouble with a major cataclysm, next time some other countries want to kick your butts don't forget to call the americans. 'Murica sucks until you need them.
You are obviously an ignorant European who enjoys a little too much 9gag/USA bashing while criticizing them for the straw in their eye while deliberately ignoring the construction beam in YOUR eye.
I'm not much of a gamer, I only play TF2 on steam. OTOH I am a real obstinate opponent of onerous TOS.
Somehow, I have not felt oppressed by Gabe, and am not concerned by this NSA-style incursion, as I am not interested in any cheating applications.
sorry about that.
So basically, shut down Steam completely then run a simple console (e.g., Windows) "1. ipconfig /release all, 2. ipconfig /flushdns, 3. ipconfig /renew"; Not to condone cheating, but this is something that can clog your system if it's having to be constantly checked.
If Steam can access the internet, and be running (to put it plainly) with permissions to install, then it runs as Admin on your stuff -- good luck setting up rules to not have to manually shut down if cheating is something you want to do.
Although, have you seen so-called "cheat" sites? They basically list achievements/trophies for games, because these cheats aren't coded in like they used to be in old consoles. It used to be something fun, I don't know what's happened to the judgement of it.
At the risk of saying too much, is privacy even an issue, really? I was filling out a form today for some website, and it struck me that so many services online have access to our personal information, and copy the same sort of security questions. When you're filling out a form for a new site, would you choose the same security questions and answers if they appear? And, since there are so few "common" security questions, would that be a clue to which question/answer combo you would pick on, for example, a banking site -- given its relative importance to a marginal or third party site (like one for shopping that has your CC info but doesn't hold your actual money). It seems like the more you want to do online, everybody is going to end up with your information. Not really a big deal when you give it some thought. Less stress on you since they won't have to fight eachother over your info, they'll all have a piece, and likely leave you alone. It's like devaluation of the currency of privacy, I guess?
But I digress. Doesn't seem like Valve's changes are that big of a deal - if the old days of button combos are dead, and walkthroughs are plentiful -- then the only cheats that are really out there are console or specific technology hacks that circumvent fair gameplay in a more massively multiplayer world of gaming. To go even further on the privacy bit, why not demand they share it with other parties and see what happens. It would relax controls on gaming companies and you may even get better offers, freeing up the market.
Anyway...
Gabe posted a full run down of how the VAC works in /r/gaming. Go have a look.