A little background first. I played the beta through Steam. I had Cheat Engine installed the whole time and there was no problem playing the beta. Obviously it was not open at all, not even for another program.

I bought a Uplay key from GMG so I go to start GRW through Uplay last night and after the syncing phase I get a message telling me to "close Cheat Engine." I checked active processes and CE is not one of them. I knew it wasn't "open" but sometimes processes stick around after the program was "closed." I tried this multiple times. I even tried changing some memory mapping and debugger options to see if Uplay/GRW could somehow spy on my installed software to see settings it didn't like.

The only thing that allowed me to start the game was to uninstall CE even though the message was to "close" it. I don't believe Ubisoft has any business dictating what software I have installed whether I use any of their software or not, whether it's through any of their services or not. The only thing they have business doing is detecting whether or not cheating is currently affecting their services or has altered data once it connects to their services. I have played and plan on continuing to play co-op so I'm not interested in using CE on GRW. But, I do expect non-essential companies to not control what I install on my system.

If there is a way to open GRW with CE installed, I'm all ears/eyes. However, that this happens at all is beyond ridiculous.

tl;dr - Ubisoft is gaining unauthorized and unnecessary access to data in a system to detect an install of a program that could potentially do something they don't like.

That's like arresting someone for owning a knife or matches because you could break the law with them and you had to break into their home to find the items. Genius.