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PunkBuster gone too far!

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A while back i found pnkbstrA.exe in my task manager and thought nothing of it since i was playing a game at the time and guessed that it must start with the game..

Only to find that the version of punkbuster installs several files, and a service.

I don't know about you lot, but this really pisses me off. i uninstalled it all, cleared up the services it created etc, and the next time i opened a PB game it all reinstalled. What gets to me is that they don't ask permission to do this. In my opinion, being able to install files to the System32 folder without permission is a big no-no.

Now every time i do some benchmarking, i've got yet another unwanted process to close. :mad:
 

wazzledoozle

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I hate punkbuster. Especially when you have to manually update it :shadedshu
 
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I wouldn't mind at all if they'd

1. Presented me with an agree/dissagree option before going ahead and installing this crap
2. If it only opens during gameplay, and not while i'm half way through a 3dmark run.

It makes a hell of an impact on benchmarks, and a lot of people have a lot of lag while it's running, because its constantly scanning the running processes for 'suspicious activity'.
 

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There are two services, pnkbstra and pnkbstrb. If you do not like punkbuster, you can just uninstall it from your system, and play your game on non-punkbuster servers (depending on the game).

If you want to b*tch about something, b*tch about the cheaters/hackers who make punkbuster necessary in the first place.
 

DaMulta

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It stops cheaters....They get a A+ from me. Hey they want me to install this and this and this to stop people from cheating I'm down.
 
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Don't get me wrong, i hate cheaters, and think PB do a good job of preventing it, but I just think this is a bit unnecessary, and like i said in post 3, i wouldn't mind if they went about doing this differently.
 

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I know... I hate it too...
 

DaMulta

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Maybe it's the only way for now to stop them and they have to run something like this. Don't blame them totally for this issue we don't know the ends and outs of stopping these things.

If people like(Not going to name names)wouldn't cheat to gain score in a game in the first place we wouldn't have issue s like this.

infrared do they have something posted on there website about this?
 

error_f0rce

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That's odd. I'll have to check mine when I get home. Thanks for the heads-up!

Yeah, installing anything to a sys folder should require some kind of user authorization.
 

DOM

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:wtf: But it should only run during games I havent played like in a week and it running for what :confused: can they even do that ??
 

Jonnycat

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If you need to modify services on a frequent basis, you can use "sc" (service control) in a dos box to automate the process.
 
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See what i mean? most people aren't even aware it's on there system. IMO that falls in the blatent spyware group.

If you need to modify services on a frequent basis, you can use "sc" (service control) in a dos box to automate the process.

Ooo, thanks for that :toast:
 

Jonnycat

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You installed punkbuster, you read the EULA, you agreed to the terms of the EULA. If you do not agree with the EULA, uninstall punkbuster, it's really just that simple.
 

PVTCaboose1337

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How many people actually read the EULA?
 
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No-one. And when it installs through playing a game, it does'nt let you read the EULA anyway.
 
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See what i mean? most people aren't even aware it's on there system. IMO that falls in the blatent spyware group.

Indeed, anything that installs without permission is spyware IMO and will get immediately uninstalled and blocked.

If I got a box asking me to install then fine, at least I'll know what I'm getting installed on my PC.

It should be illegal.
 

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Looking at this program a bit more, when you close it, open up... say BF2142, and play, It lets you play for about 30 seconds and then is like "Punkbuster error." Annoying. Now If someone could come up with a way to "fool" the game into thinking the Punkbuster program is running, then we would be in business.
 

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How many people actually read the EULA?

Willfull ignorance of a contract that one agrees to abide by does not invalidate the contract, nor does it give the complaintant any basis for a legitimate complaint (other than willfull ignorance).

I see this as a complete non-issue; punkbuster uses specific methodologies to detect and label game cheaters, and if you do not like their methodologies, you can just not install the program in the first place.
 

newtekie1

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Willfull ignorance of a contract that one agrees to abide by does not invalidate the contract, nor does it give the complaintant any basis for a legitimate complaint (other than willfull ignorance).

I see this as a complete non-issue; punkbuster uses specific methodologies to detect and label game cheaters, and if you do not like their methodologies, you can just not install the program in the first place.

QFT

Every game that uses punkbuster asks you if you want to install it before installing it while you are installing the game. If you choose to install Punkbuster you have to agree to the EULA. If you don't agree to it then don't install it, it is that simple.

Don't lable something as spyware and claim it is "installed without permision" just because you gave it permission but didn't actually read what you were pemitting.
 
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Comodo firewall catches lots. It even checks the crypto signature of each file, so if ite gets infected with viri or spartans, or trojans, it will alert you. Same for updated programs. Plus it is the only firewall to pass everything on leak tests.




Get it.




Change the permissions on the service or, create a service account, change permissions, force the service to logon as that account. PM me and I can get you the files for XP Pro to allow multiple users on one system, and with a multi-core system it hurts less.
 
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good point infrared! its nice but they should only have it runnning while gaming.. well atleast now we know when running benchmarks.
 

newtekie1

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good point infrared! its nice but they should only have it runnning while gaming.. well atleast now we know when running benchmarks.

I do agree with that, it should only be running when games require it. That is kind of lame.
 

Casheti

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A while back i found pnkbstrA.exe in my task manager and thought nothing of it since i was playing a game at the time and guessed that it must start with the game..

Only to find that the version of punkbuster installs several files, and a service.

I don't know about you lot, but this really pisses me off. i uninstalled it all, cleared up the services it created etc, and the next time i opened a PB game it all reinstalled. What gets to me is that they don't ask permission to do this. In my opinion, being able to install files to the System32 folder without permission is a big no-no.

Now every time i do some benchmarking, i've got yet another unwanted process to close. :mad:

yea I know about this. It installed itself when I enabled PunkBuster on FEAR Combat. Kaspersky asked me whether I wanted to allow it or deny it but I allowed it because it's the only way I could play on PB enabled FEAR servers.

Never had this with any other game.
 
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