Recently we had the chance to install Windows Vista for some development purposes. When I tried to play some online game, PunkBuster gave me some error messages. To solve these issues, I was forced to update PB manually via Even Balance’s PB Setup application. Updating PB client solved these problems, however, it created a new one.
It seems that the new version of PunkBuster installs two NT services in your systems
without asking you, or letting you know. These NT services are called ‘PnkBstrA’ and ‘PnkBstrB’, and these services are required for PunkBuster to run. I don’t have any problems with PunkBuster, and I do like it. However, I don’t like when some application installs services on my system without letting me know, or asking me. This is
MY system, and if you want to put your crappy services on it, you NEED to have my permission first.
According to
Even Balance, these services are required due to Vista’s new security policies that preventing PunkBuster from running. These services are included since PunkBuster Client v1.700, and it seems that these services are running even when you’re not gaming. In my honest opinion, Even Balance should apologize for installing NT services on users PCs
without asking for their permissions, or letting them know about it. And surely, I don’t see any reason to keep their crappy services running after the game was closed; they can write a small script to stop/start these services according to the game’s status.
Screenshot
