Support

Product: Game Key Guard for Windows (Stream Deck plugin for Windows) · Provider: GRAMSHIFT (Tokyo, Japan)

Contact

Email contact@gramshift.com in English or Japanese. We reply within 7 business days, usually sooner. Please include your Windows version (Settings > System > About), your Stream Deck app version, the name of the game or app, whether it runs as administrator, and a photo or screenshot of the key and of its settings (the Status line says what the plugin sees).

If keys ever stay blocked

Press the key on your Stream Deck again. If it does not react, quit the Stream Deck app (right-click its icon in the taskbar corner and choose Quit): the block ends with the plugin. Ctrl + Alt + Del always works, because Windows does not let any program block it, and the plugin never blocks Ctrl + Shift + Esc (Task Manager) either. From Task Manager you can end "Stream Deck". When the plugin's process ends, however it ends, Windows removes the block with it: on our Windows 11 test PC the keys were back 63 milliseconds after we killed the plugin process.

Get started

Install the plugin from the Elgato Marketplace. In the Stream Deck app, find Game Key Guard for Windows in the action list and drag an action onto a key.
Press the key to block, press it again to allow. No setup is needed for the first two actions.

The actions

Block Windows Key: while on, the left and right Windows keys do nothing, alone (the Start menu does not open) or together with another key. The other key of such a combination still reaches the program in front as a normal key.
Block Task Switching: while on, Alt+Tab, Alt+Esc and Ctrl+Esc do nothing. Tick Alt+F4 to block that too. Only Tab, Esc or F4 is held back, and only while Alt (for Ctrl+Esc: Ctrl) is down. Alt and Ctrl themselves, and Tab, Esc and F4 on their own, always reach the game.
Game Guard: one key for everything you tick (Windows keys, Alt+Tab, Alt+Esc, Ctrl+Esc, Alt+F4). Only in front: choose a program and the keys are blocked only while a window of that program is in front; while another program is in front the key says PAUSED and nothing is blocked. The list shows the programs that have a window open now, so start the game first, then open the settings and choose it (the round arrow reloads the list).

Several keys can be on at the same time; everything they ask for is blocked.

What is never blocked

Ctrl+Alt+Del: Windows does not allow any program to block it. It is your way out.
Ctrl+Shift+Esc (Task Manager): left alone on purpose.
Every other key and combination. The plugin does not remap keys, send macros or record anything.

How it works, and what that means

While a key of the plugin is on, a small process of the plugin asks Windows to show it key events before Windows acts on them (a low-level keyboard hook), and tells Windows to drop the ones listed above. What follows from that:

It stops what Windows does with those keys: opening the Start menu, switching windows, closing a window with Alt+F4. That is all it claims.
A program that runs as administrator. By the rules of Windows, a normal program is not shown key events while the window of a program that runs as administrator is in front. If your game or its launcher runs as administrator, the plugin may not be able to block anything while it is in front. We have not tested this case on a real game; if it happens, the key is expected to say NOT HELD instead of BLOCKED.
Games that read the keyboard in their own way (for example Raw Input). The plugin only decides what Windows itself does with a key. Whether a game still notices a blocked Windows key through its own reading of the keyboard, we have not tested.
Anti-cheat software. We make no statement about how any anti-cheat software treats a keyboard hook. The plugin 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. If you are unsure, check the rules of your game before using it there.
The key shows what was checked. Windows can remove a hook without telling the program that set it. So once a second the plugin sends itself a marker (a release of a key code no keyboard has; other software that watches the keyboard can see it, and Windows may count it as activity, so screen-off and sleep timers may not start while a block is on; we have not measured this) and looks whether it arrives. BLOCKED appears only while that check succeeds; if it fails, the plugin sets the hook again, and if that fails too, the key says NOT HELD.
Speed. While a block is on, every key press of the PC passes through the plugin's small process first. On our test PC that took about 0.2 milliseconds per key. While no block is on, no hook is set and nothing passes through it.
The small process. While a key of the plugin is on the visible Stream Deck page, one extra process of the plugin runs (the same Node.js as the plugin, file bin/keyhook.cjs), so that the first press reacts at once. It sets no hook until a key is on, and it ends when no key of the plugin is shown.
Keys sent by other tools. A blocked combination is blocked no matter where it comes from. A hotkey action or a macro tool that sends, for example, a Windows key shortcut will not get through while that key is blocked.

What we tested, and what we did not

Tested on one PC (Windows 11, Stream Deck app 7.6), with key presses sent by a test program, not typed on a keyboard: with Block Windows Key on, a Windows key press was stopped (the Start menu did not open, the window in front did not change); in a separate test of the same blocking method, Alt+Tab was stopped and no modifier key stayed "down" afterwards; the block was gone after the plugin process was killed.

Not tested: any particular game; games in exclusive full-screen mode; a game running as administrator; anti-cheat software; Windows 10; ARM PCs; keyboards with their own "game mode" key; waking from sleep on a real PC.

When a block ends by itself

Event	What happens
The key is no longer on the visible Stream Deck page (you changed page or profile, or deleted the key)	That key goes off, so that a block can not stay on without a key to undo it. Keep the key on the page you use while playing.
The PC wakes from sleep	Every key goes off.
The Stream Deck app quits or restarts the plugin	The plugin ends its blocking process before it exits.
The plugin process is killed or crashes	The blocking process notices that the plugin is gone and exits; Windows removes the block of a process that has ended.
The blocking process itself ends or stops answering	The plugin ends it if needed; the keys say `FAILED`, then `OFF`. Press a key to start again.

What the keys show

Key	Meaning
Dark, `OFF`	This key blocks nothing.
Green, `BLOCKED`	Checked within the last second: Windows hands the keys to the plugin, and everything this key asks for is blocked.
Dark, amber `PAUSED` "not in front"	Game Guard with a program chosen: another program is in front, so this key blocks nothing until that program is in front again.
Amber frame, `NOT HELD` "check failed"	The key is on, but Windows does not hand the keys to the plugin now. Nothing is blocked. The plugin tries again every second.
Amber frame, `FAILED` "blocker stopped"	The blocking process ended. Nothing is blocked; the key goes off.
`--` "nothing ticked"	Game Guard: nothing is ticked in its settings.
Amber frame, `--` "reinstall plugin"	The plugin could not load its Windows part. Remove the plugin in the Stream Deck app and install it again from the Elgato Marketplace.

Questions

The block ended when Stream Deck switched profiles.
That is on purpose (see the table above). Put the key on the profile or page that is shown while you play.

My game is not in the "Only in front" list.
The list shows programs that have a window open at that moment. Start the game, then press the round arrow next to the list. Apps from the Microsoft Store can appear under the name applicationframehost.exe, which is shared by several apps.

After Alt+Tab is blocked, the game reacts as if I tapped Alt.
Alt itself is never held back (holding it back could leave Windows thinking a key is stuck), so the game sees Alt go down and up.

Does it block my keyboard's own Windows-lock key or macro keys?
It does not touch them. Those work inside the keyboard or its own software.

Does it work on Mac?
No. This plugin is for Windows 10 and 11 only.

Privacy

The plugin does not record, store or send what you type, and sends no data to us or to any online service. See the Privacy Policy for exactly what the keyboard hook looks at.