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Dota Translator
Windows shows a blue "Windows protected your PC" window the first time you run the installer. That is expected. Here is why it appears, what to press, and where the app goes once it is running.
Is it safe to run?
You do not know me, and it is an .exe. So here is what you can check rather than believe.
- Every release is public, with checks for the exact installer. Each version is built by an automated job on GitHub - not on my PC - and published on the releases page with its fingerprint (SHA-256) and a VirusTotal report when available for that exact file. Compare the fingerprint below with your download and you know it is the file that was scanned.
- Public downloads, private source. The release repository contains the installer, update files and this website. The app and backend source are private.
- Every installer is sent to VirusTotal, where about 70 antivirus engines look at it. See the report for exactly this file and judge for yourself - right after a release it can still be running. Expect a few flags, and here is why: when this was last checked, Microsoft, Kaspersky, ESET, Malwarebytes, Sophos, Symantec and about 55 others found nothing, and BitDefender's engine - which several other products also use, so it shows up more than once - raised a heuristic for PowerShell scripts. That is a guess from behaviour, not a match with known malware, and the behaviour is real: the app uses small PowerShell scripts to look at two spots of the screen and to press keys for you, which is also what some malware does. The scripts ship as plain text in the app's folder. If you run one of those antivirus products it may block the app.
- No administrator rights. It installs for your Windows user only: no service, no driver, nothing that starts with Windows. It uninstalls from Windows Settings like anything else.
- Hosted translation with your account. Chat lines needing translation go to our server and Google's paid Gemini API. The app also contacts GitHub for updates and Valve's image server for missing hero portraits. Your email, trial and payment status stay in the account service. Privacy details.
- It listens to Dota and never writes to it. The game sends its chat to the app through Valve's own Game State Integration feed. To show who spoke, the app captures thumbnail-sized spots of the game's picture - and, on Ctrl+Enter, the start of the chat input, to tell team chat from all - and keeps nothing. It presses keys for you only when you press Ctrl+Enter in the game's chat. Each of those is one plain-text file, and automated tests fail if the app ever gains a way to open the game's process. What that means for your Steam account is in the catch.
This version's fingerprint (SHA-256):
Compare it with your file in PowerShell: Get-FileHash Dota-Translator-Setup.exe
Found a security problem? Email support@dotatranslator.live.
Windows stops the installer
Run Dota-Translator-Setup.exe and a blue window appears in place of the installer. Press More info, and a Run anyway button appears.
Windows protected your PC
Windows protected your PC
- App:
- Dota-Translator-Setup.exe
- Publisher:
- Unknown publisher
Get-FileHash Dota-Translator-Setup.exe.It installs by itself
The installer needs no administrator password. It adds a shortcut and starts the app. Right-click Dota Translator and choose Run as administrator so Windows can send your translated Ctrl+Enter replies to Dota. Enter your email, then use the sign-in link or six-digit code we send you. Keep the app open if you use the link. Your first successful sign-in starts a 3-day trial. After that, access is €7 for 3 months. No Gemini key is needed. Restart Dota once after installing so it picks up its chat feed.
After that it lives by the clock
Dota Translator has no main window. It sits in the system tray, the row of small icons beside the clock, and draws only over Dota. Windows hides new tray icons behind the little ^ arrow: click it and look for the two chat bubbles.
Click the icon for the settings; right-click it to hide the translations or to quit. Starting Dota Translator again from its shortcut while it is already running opens the same settings window. Alt+D hides and shows the translations, Alt+Shift+D quits.
Finish setting up the chat overlay
Follow the Dota Translator setup guide for email sign-in, Borderless Window mode and translated Ctrl+Enter replies. The current app includes hosted translation with no personal API key to configure.