PartyPoker Installs KB/mouse hooks, and infects your files

[ColdCaller]

I know this has been written about before on several occasions - PartyPoker is known to "hook" your keyboard and mouse functions, allowing them to monitor all the movements and even control them if they should want to. They also monitor your screen using a screendump program, and inject a DLL into your running processes to see what programs you are running, and to monitor the flow of information into and out of those programs from your hard drive, memory, and the Internet.

Does it sound intrusive? Yeah, of course it is. But, you agreed to it when you installed the software and read that EULA before doing so, which I just know you all bothered to read.

Anyway, I'm not here to just randomly point this out and bitch about it. However, I am here to tell you how to avoid it, and ask the forum about their thoughts on doing so.

By using the program ProcessGuard, you can stop a program from modifying the code of another running process in real-time, which will disable the DLL injections into running processes. You can then use SnoopFree to stop PartyPoker from taking screendumps of your software and hooking your mouse and keyboard.

Similar workarounds exist in ZoneAlarm, by stopping Party from acting as a server.

The long-term effects of using ProcessGuard and SnoopFree are not known, though I have been doing this for some time now. I am not sure if this is against the EULA, but what I'm interested in is whether or not they have the right to seize my funds or take action against me if I am doing this. As we have seen by ZeeJustin's account, they are willing to take punitive action by acting as judge, jury, and executioner (which many of the MTT forum users support for some ungodly reason).

What are your thoughts of subverting what amounts to a gross violation of privacy, regardless of my agreement to allow such things to happen? Should Party have this type of information to stop "cheaters"? Do you really trust their security and the internal/external staff of PartyPoker not to distribute this information?

(It should be noted that PokerStars does not use hooks or monitors your software in any manner, instead relying on internal log files to log the data. I presume the Security department will demand these files for reinstatement if they suspect bot play based on patterns, though I cannot say for sure. Full Tilt has a screendump server/sender embedded in the software, but nothing else - from what I can tell.)

[scrub]

[ QUOTE ]
I know this has been written about before on several occasions - PartyPoker is known to "hook" your keyboard and mouse functions, allowing them to monitor all the movements and even control them if they should want to. They also monitor your screen using a screendump program, and inject a DLL into your running processes to see what programs you are running, and to monitor the flow of information into and out of those programs from your hard drive, memory, and the Internet.

Does it sound intrusive? Yeah, of course it is. But, you agreed to it when you installed the software and read that EULA before doing so, which I just know you all bothered to read.

Anyway, I'm not here to just randomly point this out and bitch about it. However, I am here to tell you how to avoid it, and ask the forum about their thoughts on doing so.

By using the program ProcessGuard, you can stop a program from modifying the code of another running process in real-time, which will disable the DLL injections into running processes. You can then use SnoopFree to stop PartyPoker from taking screendumps of your software and hooking your mouse and keyboard.

Similar workarounds exist in ZoneAlarm, by stopping Party from acting as a server.

The long-term effects of using ProcessGuard and SnoopFree are not known, though I have been doing this for some time now. I am not sure if this is against the EULA, but what I'm interested in is whether or not they have the right to seize my funds or take action against me if I am doing this. As we have seen by ZeeJustin's account, they are willing to take punitive action by acting as judge, jury, and executioner (which many of the MTT forum users support for some ungodly reason).

What are your thoughts of subverting what amounts to a gross violation of privacy, regardless of my agreement to allow such things to happen? Should Party have this type of information to stop "cheaters"? Do you really trust their security and the internal/external staff of PartyPoker not to distribute this information?

(It should be noted that PokerStars does not use hooks or monitors your software in any manner, instead relying on internal log files to log the data. I presume the Security department will demand these files for reinstatement if they suspect bot play based on patterns, though I cannot say for sure. Full Tilt has a screendump server/sender embedded in the software, but nothing else - from what I can tell.)

[/ QUOTE ]

I've never used ProcessGuard, but I've heard of people using it to hide banned applications from Party.

Someone told me that the new Party client will not run if you use ProcessGuard to prevent it from scanning your running processes. If this is true, I'm very happy about it.

It's not like any online poker room can really stop a determined, sophisticated person from using illegal software, but I'd still prefer it if it wasn't so easy that anyone could do it with a commercially available application.

scrub

[ColdCaller]

[ QUOTE ]
Someone told me that the new Party client will not run if you use ProcessGuard to prevent it from scanning your running processes. If this is true, I'm very happy about it.

[/ QUOTE ]

It works. I've been using it for a long time and continue to do so.

[somapopper]

I think the chance of Party confiscating funds (without issuing a personal warning) is 0. It'd be some pretty atrocious PR.

So, I'm somewhat tech savy, but that was greek to me. What's the result/ possible problems, of this stuff running?

[Karak567]

[ QUOTE ]
I think the chance of Party confiscating funds (without issuing a personal warning) is 0. It'd be some pretty atrocious PR.

[/ QUOTE ]

You really don't pay much attention to what Party does, do you? They've done it before and they'll do it again.

[DCopper04]

[ QUOTE ]
I know this has been written about before on several occasions - PartyPoker is known to "hook" your keyboard and mouse functions, allowing them to monitor all the movements and even control them if they should want to. They also monitor your screen using a screendump program, and inject a DLL into your running processes to see what programs you are running, and to monitor the flow of information into and out of those programs from your hard drive, memory, and the Internet.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm assuming this is only possible when running the Party client, no? I still have Party on my computer but haven't played on it for ages.

[ColdCaller]

Yeah, it has to be running.

[otter]

I'm using snoopfree right now and I played for a little while on party. I was shocked to find out about hooks and them taking screendumps! I just downloaded it today after reading the software forum.

Do I also need processguard or will snoopfree work alright?

There should be a way for party to stop cheaters, but they shouldn't be allowed to have access to all the data on your computer. If Pokerstars doesn't do it, why does party have to do it?

[ColdCaller]

ProcessGuard stops PartyPoker.exe from accessing your other files and running processes. You need to run both to have complete protection.

[FlopMe]

Would this mouse hook cause my mouse to become very sluggish? Last night while playing 8 tables my mouse just suddenly started moving VERY slowly from side to side and even slower than that moving up and down. It lasted for about a minute then went away. I thought there was the possibility that Party was the cause.