Vanguard anti-cheat will (hopefully) stop harassing your drivers thanks to new fix

Riot Games has found themselves in the hot seat recently due to issues with its anti-cheat software, Vanguard. Valorant uses this software to prevent players from gaining unfair advantages over others by using third-party add-ons, which is a concern of utmost important to any competitive title. While Vanguard intends to ensure integrity of gameplay, it does not ensure the safety of your PC. The developers have finally addressed this in a recent patch fix to the software, but will it quiet the concerns of the community?

More details on the fix

It’s not just the fact that Vanguard takes over parts of your PC to regulate the software you use that is getting users uspest. According to win.gg, the anti-cheat activity interferes with the drivers that control cooling systems in a computer.

The same report describes Riot’s fix to the issue: “The fix targets a program called CPU-Z, a hardware monitoring tool included with a many active cooling systems from manufactures like Corsair and NZXT. The program, packed into the drivers of aftermarket hardware coolers, was recently found to have a security vulnerability that hackers could use to cheat in online play. When Vanguard was updated in the second week of Valorant’s open beta, users started to notice that Vanguard had blocked the CPU-Z hardware utility. ”

Riot is not in the clear yet

The recent patch to Vanguard has eliminated this issue, but that’s not all she wrote. Some users are claiming that their vgc.exe file is not working and they cannot launch Valorant at all.

This is a serious problem. Valorant won’t run without it’s anti-cheat software working properly. Riot has not publicly announced a fix to this issue yet, but claims to be looking into the problem. The only suggestion that seems to get the game up and running again is completely uninstalling Valorant and Vanguard, so if you’re having this issue then it’s worth trying.

Are you having issues with Valorant? Let us know by tweeting @SlashShout!

Theresa Gaffney

Theresa is a seasoned esports professional with nearly ten years under her belt developing content and running esports teams and leagues. She is currently the head coach for Messiah College's esports program and a freelance industry consultant.

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