Riot Games has addressed one of the biggest player grievances regarding its Vanguard anti-cheat software: its always-on nature. In a recent developer update, Riot announced Vanguard On-Demand, a new optional mode that allows the kernel-level driver to launch only when you are actively playing a Riot title, rather than booting up alongside your operating system.
Here is a breakdown of how the new system works and what it takes to enable it on your machine.
What is Vanguard On-Demand?
Since its introduction with VALORANT (and its recent expansion to League of Legends), Vanguard has required a system restart upon installation and runs constantly in the background to prevent cheating software from loading before the game. With the On-Demand update, players can now limit Vanguard’s activity strictly to their gaming sessions. Once you close the game, Vanguard stops running, giving you back those pixels in your system tray and ensuring the driver isn’t lingering in the background.
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The “Pre-Check” Security Requirements
This newfound flexibility isn’t available to just any PC. To safely turn off Vanguard’s constant monitoring without opening the floodgates to cheaters, your computer must pass Vanguard Pre-Check.
Riot is leaning on modern hardware and Windows security features to do the heavy lifting. To qualify for On-Demand mode, your system must have several native protections enabled, including:
- UEFI Mode and Secure Boot
- Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0
- Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) and Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity (HVCI)
According to Riot, roughly 35% of players already have these settings active by default on newer machines. For the remaining 65%, a newly redesigned VGTray application will guide users through the process of enabling these features, which may require venturing into your motherboard’s BIOS settings.
A Completely Optional Experience
If navigating BIOS menus sounds intimidating, don’t worry. Riot stresses that Vanguard On-Demand is 100% optional. If you prefer not to tinker with your system’s firmware, you can leave things exactly as they are. Vanguard will simply continue its omnipresent watch, adapting its defense strategy to your system’s baseline security.
By offloading some of the security burden to Windows’ native features, Riot aims to focus its anti-cheat energy directly on the worst offenders, offering law-abiding players a more tailored, less intrusive experience.
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