Downloading Cheats Unsafe

fr33pr0d
Moderator

Not only cheating applications are fake. A friend of mine wanted to create a server quick and painless so (after installing a fresh copy of Windows) he downloaded one of those auto-install counter strike server.
The result: format and reinstall the OS again because he was so eager to see his server in action that he didn't install any anti-virus software first.
Sometimes (if not always), the long way around is much safer. Or you can take the short-cut but be sure to scan any *.exe for malicious 'bonus'.

Drek 
(unregistered)

AVG-Virus

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I use AVG to scan for trojans and it's free.. I don't download cheats but you can never be safe without some protection!

Sebastian
Lost in space

There are a lot of trojans/apps that do nothing but steal your Steam account details..this is how so many accounts are overtaken. things like keyloggers can be installed without you knowing and they run silently in the background, but everything you type is recorded and transmitted to the host..

also, you should not be running Steam under administrator privileges.. always make a secondary user account and never run your system as administrator unless you are making system changes/modifications.

when you do not run as administrator you aren't as vulnerable since trojans and malicious software can't write to the system (no permission)..

install Steam as administrator, then run it as a secondary user with limited privileges. you should be doing this in general and not just with Steam.

gargista
Member

wew

[TF] f3ar 
(unregistered)

i got banned because i changed my skin! WTF is up with that? i never cheated or download hacks

Sebastian
Lost in space

^ some skins can be considered as cheats. usually you don't get banned though, you just get booted off the server if it has force file consistence enabled.

the filesize of the skin can also be flagged as cheat, when you join a server it checks the size and how consistant they are and any file that appears odd will trigger VAC.