Privacy Policy

Product: Game Key Guard for Windows (Stream Deck plugin for Windows) · Provider: GRAMSHIFT (Tokyo, Japan) · Last updated: 2026-10-05

Summary

The plugin stops a few key combinations (the Windows keys, Alt+Tab, Alt+Esc, Ctrl+Esc and, if you tick it, Alt+F4) from reaching Windows while one of its keys is on. It does not record, store or send what you type, and it does not collect or send any data about you or your PC. It has no account, no online service, no analytics and no telemetry, and it makes no network requests of its own.

The keyboard hook, in plain words

To stop a key before Windows acts on it, a program has to ask Windows to show it key events first. Windows offers one way to do that (a "low-level keyboard hook", SetWindowsHookEx with WH_KEYBOARD_LL). The same Windows feature can be misused to record typing, so here is exactly what this plugin does with it:

The hook exists only while a key of the plugin is on and blocking. When every key of the plugin says OFF or PAUSED, no hook is set and the plugin is shown no key event at all.
While the hook is set, Windows hands every key event to a small process of the plugin (file bin/keyhook.cjs). For each event that process looks at two things: the code of the key, and whether Alt is held. If the key is not a Windows key, Tab, Esc or F4, the event is passed on at once and nothing about it is kept.
Nothing is recorded. No key is written to a file or a log, shown anywhere, or sent to the rest of the plugin, to the Stream Deck app, to us or to anyone. The only thing the process remembers is five yes/no values: whether the last press of Windows-left, Windows-right, Tab, Esc and F4 was stopped, so that the release of that same press is stopped too.
For Ctrl+Esc it asks Windows, at the moment Esc is pressed, whether Ctrl and Shift are held. It does not read any other key state.
Once a second, while the hook is set, the process sends one made-up key release with a key code that no keyboard has (0xE8) and checks that the hook receives it. That is how it knows Windows still calls the hook; the key on your Stream Deck says BLOCKED only while this check succeeds. It sends no other key, ever.
The process ends, and Windows removes the hook, when the plugin exits or is killed.

What else the plugin does on your PC

Game Guard with "Only in front": while such a key is on, the plugin reads five times a second the file name of the program whose window is in front (for example game.exe) and compares it with the one you chose. It is not stored.
When you open the settings of a Game Guard key, the plugin reads the list of programs that have a window open now (file name and window title) to fill the list you choose from. The list is shown in the settings page only; it is not written to disk or sent anywhere.
It changes no Windows setting, installs nothing and does not read or modify the memory or files of any game or other program. To learn the file name of the program in front (Game Guard with a program chosen) and of the programs in the settings list, it asks Windows for the name of that process through a query-only handle.
It talks only to the Stream Deck app on the same PC, through a local connection (127.0.0.1) that the Stream Deck app provides to every plugin.

Where data goes

Data	Where it is processed	Stored by the plugin?
Key events of your keyboard while a block is on (key code, "Alt is held")	Looked at in memory on your PC, one event at a time, only to decide "stop it or pass it on"	No. Not recorded, not logged, not sent anywhere.
What you type (text, passwords, chat)	Never assembled, read as text or kept	No.
File name of the program in front (Game Guard with "Only in front")	Read from Windows on your PC while that key is on	No. Compared and dropped.
File names and window titles of open programs (settings page of Game Guard)	Read from Windows on your PC when the settings page asks	No. Shown in the list; not written to disk or sent anywhere.
Key settings (what is ticked, the program you chose)	Saved by the Stream Deck app on your PC, like the settings of any other key	Only in your Stream Deck profile on your PC.
Technical log	The Stream Deck plugin framework writes a small log file (mainly connection errors) in the plugin's folder on your PC. The plugin writes no key, no program name and no window title into it.	On your PC only. It is not sent anywhere.
Anything sent to GRAMSHIFT servers	—	Nothing. The plugin has no server of its own and makes no network requests of its own.

Purchases

The plugin is sold on the Elgato Marketplace. Purchases, payments and licenses are handled by Elgato (Corsair) and its payment provider under Elgato's own terms and privacy policy. GRAMSHIFT never receives card details. If Elgato provides us with sales records (for example the date, country and amount of a sale), we use them only for accounting and tax.

Support requests

If you contact us, we receive what you choose to send (for example your email address, your message and any screenshots; a screenshot of the settings page can show the names of programs that were open). We use it only to answer you. Email to contact@gramshift.com is forwarded by our email forwarding provider (ImprovMX) to a mailbox hosted by Google (Gmail), so those providers process support emails on our behalf.

Our role and legal basis

The plugin works only as a tool on your own computer: GRAMSHIFT does not receive or process anything from it. For sales records and support emails, GRAMSHIFT is the controller. We rely on our legitimate interest in answering requests and on legal obligations (for example tax records). GRAMSHIFT is based in Japan, so this information is processed in Japan and by the providers named above.

Your rights

You can ask us to access, correct or delete personal information we hold about you, or object to its use, by emailing contact@gramshift.com. If you are in the EEA or the UK, you can also complain to your local data protection authority.

Retention and deletion

The plugin keeps nothing of its own except its key settings and log file, on your PC. Uninstalling it from the Stream Deck app removes them; nothing else on your PC was changed by it. Support emails are kept only as long as needed to handle the request and meet legal obligations; you can ask us to delete them. Sales records are kept for up to 7 years for accounting and tax.

Changes

If the plugin ever starts to send or store other data, this policy will be updated before that change is released, and the date above will change.

Contact

GRAMSHIFT · contact@gramshift.com · 1-10-8 Dogenzaka, Shibuya Dogenzaka Tokyu Bldg 2F-C, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0043, Japan