Be cautious when using Steam features

[Leonardo]

I read this thread at the official and I thought people here should know about what has happen on Steam lately.

 

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/138657-Malware-Disguised-as-SCR-File-Spread-through-Steam

 

 

Even if I don't use any communicating features on Steam such as chat or playing MMO with friends on Steam, makes me concerned about the security on Steam despite for having Steam Guard active 24 hours a day.

[HeyYou]

and another reason to hate steam.

[Jac]

I really started to hate Steam when I had to reinstall Skyrim recently and it forced me to download 4 gigs worth of something or other before I could play again. That hate was reinforced when I tried to install Left 4 Dead 2 from some DVDs a friend sent me and Steam STILL wants to download 1.2 gigs worth of crap. Stupid Steam. Not everybody has unlimited Internet, some of us actually have to pay for what we use. Bastards.

[alt3rn1ty]

I think the damned thing has updated 4 times in the last week and a half, probably starting to get much more opportunity for attack vectors so its harder to keep secure, more advertising mechanisms and more online capability with its browser and in game features means more attack vector surface to exploit

 

I made a Skyrim Tweaks post ( under the description for Vanilla Reduced Textures ) .. Part of that is a post I have been putting around the bazaars since early 2012

 

No.1 = Reduce the Steam clients activities:

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On a minimum spec laptop or below, I found turning off a load of steam 'features' helps performance.

Running Steam in Offline mode is a big contributer to a smoother game in Skyrim

Official advice is here https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555

Quote

Using Offline Mode on a PC.

Please follow the instructions below to configure Offline Mode on your PC:

Start Steam online - make sure the Remember my password box on the login window is checked

Verify that all game files are completely updated - you can see the update status for a game under the Library section (when the game shows as 100% - Ready it is ready to be played in Offline Mode)

Launch the game you would like to play offline to verify that there are no further updates to download - shut down the game and return to Steam once you have confirmed that the game can be played

Go to Steam > Settings to ensure the Don't save account credentials on this computer option is not selected

From the main Steam window, go to the Steam menu and select Go Offline

Click Restart in Offline Mode to restart Steam in Offline Mode

Additionally I would also ...

Go through all steam settings and turn off what you do not need, its a single player game anyway so you dont need all the crap steam is trying to introduce, taking up processor time which can be better used by the game ..

I would recommend doing the library view game properties first before the Steam Menu settings

Library View - Right click on Skyrims title on the left, and choose Properties

General tab - Enable steam community in-game - I have un-ticked

Updates tab - Enable steam cloud synchronisation - un-ticked (your save games being backed up on-line taking loads of bandwidth and background CPU use)

Steam menu - Settings

Friends tab - I have every box un-ticked

Interface tab - I have all four check boxes un-ticked

In-Game tab - I have Enable steam community in-game un-ticked

Downloads and cloud - Steam cloud and screenshot manager I have un-ticked (I just use the usual PrtSc for screenshots, though I understand some people may not be able to do this in Skyrim and need the steam clients ability for screenshots)

I then start the game with its desktop Icon, which will fire up steam first (because I dont have it start with windows), at which point it asks if I want to start in Online or Offline mode - For playing I start in Offline mode.

And then periodically check for updates just by launching steam from its own icon instead of the game launch icon - Letting it go online; After any updates, go to the steam menu and choose Go Offline, then shut down steam ... Ready for the next launch of the game when I want it to be completely offline again.

Of course if you are running on a laptop you can also switch off your wifi button before starting steam, preventing it getting all excited about uploading your data to the cloud when it finds you have no communication method with mother  .

Edited November 21, 2014 by alt3rn1ty