Steam Problem.

[Menkhaf]

I began my gaming session just like any other. I boot up Steam, open the game I want to play, usually being Counter-Strike, which so happens to be the game that I wanted to play today. I refreshed my server list with the filters being, "Counter-Strike, server not full, has users playing, and is not password protected". The list of servers finished refreshing, and I noticed right away a red circle, with a slash going through it. I thought to myself that maybe Steam had updated their layout, or something like that. I tried connecting to one of my favorites servers and it says, "You cannot connect to the selected server, because it is running in VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) secure mode. This steam account has been banned from secure servers due to a cheating infraction." I thought to myself, "what the fuck!" What can I do to fix this problem? I've vied the Steam support page, and it says that Steam support cannot remove the ban on my account. What can I do? I have never cheated, or hacked on any type of Half-Life Mod ever. I infact hate, and feel sorry for hackers! Is this the end of my Steam gaming experience, or is there something that I can do?

 

[ArbY]

Your account may have been hijacked.

Hopefully you have anti-virus, firewall and/or other security software running in the background whenever the PC is turned on. Doing periodic spyware scans are helpful as well.

Here's something copied from the Steam support page,

"Note: In the event that a hijacked Steam account is banned by the Valve Anti-Cheat System, we will not be able to reverse the ban.
Please choose a strong password and safeguard your account login information to avoid being hijacked."

Basically, your Steam account is lost. You'll need to create a new one and purchase the software all over again. I recommend changing your password, but first do anti-virus and spyware scans. I know Ad-Aware has picked up some traces of keyloggers so it's definitely worth doing on occasion.