Can Valve see my search history? Confusing story...

[Jacie950]

That's the only way they could know I was contemplating hacking. Roughly a month ago I searched up some hacks and was going to use them, however I decided against it as I know how it ruins the game for myself and other players. In fact the only reason I contemplated doing so in the first place was due to the sheer amount of hackers I was encountering, and so I wanted to beat them at their own game! In this case it is a little creepy!

I know that the VAC bans are non-negotiable, though they will be removed automatically. How is this the case? Upon what grounds would it be removed? I certainly do not remember ever having used them, unless some loser decided to gain access to my account and be a hacker (which is incredibly unlikely).

In the case that I have truly done nothing wrong, what happens? How do I get my account back? How do I get my rank back? How do I get my money back if the above is impossible? If anyone from either the community or (preferably) Valve themselves, I will be incredibly grateful for any help which allow me to redeem my account.

Many thanks,
Jacob.

[Dark Luminary]

vac only bans if known cheats were detected (also phone sharing). just searching them online wont do anything. Read and understand http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/9/882959527688934488/

[ecznos]

Ehhm, valve doesn't look for your search history. You can download thousand of cheat software, you won't get banned if you don't use them and inject to the game itself which is VAC secured.

And no, vac bans are permanent.

PS: You didn't lost anything. You can still use your account, you can still play on unsecure servers.

[kate]

The chances are it was an error. Valve do not have access to your browser history and will not track it.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Years ago was an incident where vac used something else than just detecting cheats on pc.
https://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/1y0kc1/vac_now_reads_all_the_domains_you_have_visited/

[BossGalaga]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Years ago was an incident where vac used something else than just detecting cheats on pc.
https://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/1y0kc1/vac_now_reads_all_the_domains_you_have_visited/

No one was banned for visiting a website. Regardless of what methods it may use, VAC has only ever banned for detecting a person using cheats.

Originally posted by xJaCx:

That's the only way they could know I was contemplating hacking. Roughly a month ago I searched up some hacks and was going to use them, however I decided against it as I know how it ruins the game for myself and other players. In fact the only reason I contemplated doing so in the first place was due to the sheer amount of hackers I was encountering, and so I wanted to beat them at their own game! In this case it is a little creepy!

I know that the VAC bans are non-negotiable, though they will be removed automatically. How is this the case? Upon what grounds would it be removed? I certainly do not remember ever having used them, unless some loser decided to gain access to my account and be a hacker (which is incredibly unlikely).

In the case that I have truly done nothing wrong, what happens? How do I get my account back? How do I get my rank back? How do I get my money back if the above is impossible? If anyone from either the community or (preferably) Valve themselves, I will be incredibly grateful for any help which allow me to redeem my account.

Many thanks,
Jacob.

VAC does not ban people for thinking about or searching for cheats. The fact that you claim you can't "remember" using cheats basically means maybe you did, maybe you didn't, you don't know. Since you have a VAC ban on your profile, it's pretty safe to assume that you did in fact use cheats.

You have not lost your account. You still have it. You're posting on it right now.

The pinned thread linked in the first reply along with the links in the pinned thread will provide you with pretty much all of the information you need.