Question for the PC minded

[angelo.vs]

Is it safe to download Steam? For people who dont know, Steam apparently is a program that allows people to play Counter Strike and other games online and also allows for downloadable updates. What I want to know is would it, in anyway stuff my pc up? eg viruses, pop ups, spy ware and the like.

Thanks

[hakhawk]

i dont see why it would harm yout pc in any way, people have been using steam and cs for years. just download it from a decent site.

[bezz]

steam is fine man get it from steampowered.com

[Mr_Slim]

if you're unsure, just make sure you have a good quality anti-virus and make sure you get the file checked before you install it.

make sure your anti-virus is updated, not just the latest version. Eg. Symantic (Norton) have been running a great scam where each year they promote their software, but don't update during the year so your anti-virus is out of date about a week after you buy it.

Get a copy of Trend-Micro PC-Cillian or Panda Anti-Virus, they both auto-update everyday so you are about as protected as you can be. Then use it to check the program to see if all is A-OK. The reason being is that its a pretty popular program. Surely someone has realised they can sell spyware on it, or create pop-up shit you don't want

[angelo.vs]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Looks like I might get it. Mr_Slim, thanks for the anti virus suggestions. Do you just download those or buy it from the shops?



Also does playing online eg Counter Strike use up a lot of download megabytes?

[PaRaDoX]

man steam is clean, trust me, they have more bandwith than microsoft!!! i get like 5mb/s (usable bandwith) off them good for downloading things...

nah wont stuff up ur pc, always run a virus scan thats up to day (scheduel updates on a weekly basis) but download it off the vendor website and it will be clean!!!!

[angelo.vs]

man steam is clean, trust me, they have more bandwith than microsoft!!! i get like 5mb/s (usable bandwith) off them good for downloading things...

So when you say you get 5mb usable bandwith, does that mean thats the total download size when you play online?

I just dont want to use up my download limit playing a game.

Sorry for the noobish question hehehe

[VS Omega]

Hi angelo!

Steam is perfectly safe, just make sure you download it from the official website. It allows you to play games which you have purchased - online, but if you don't own them or haven't purchased them it won't be much good. I've got Steam and I use it to play HL2 and CS:S online and it works a treat, online gaming doesn't use up too much bandwidth so I wouldn't worry about your monthly usage being hit.

What PaRa's talking about is the speed at which you're able to connect to the Steam servers to download patches and updates for your games. Be wary though because if you're taking a game online for the first time like Half Life 2 it will download a crapload of updates before you're able to play it.

Theoretically you shouldn't even be able to play Counter Strike (source, not sure about original) unless you've already installed Steam.. unless of coarse it's pirated, in which case you wouldn't want to connect to Steam anyway

[angelo.vs]

I dont have Source Ive got CS whatever the first part is but my gfs brother is letting me use his account. Thanks for your help