It's been nearly a year since I've used Steam. In that time I've formatted my computer a number of times and have not bothered to re-install the Steam software.
I figured since there's a lot of uncertainty about Steam in this forum I'd do a quick rundown of my first impressions of it as I return. I have used Steam for one game in the past but never bothered to look much into what the client is or does.
For people already familiar with Steam, I understand you probably won't personally find this very informative. However, feel free to add any information to the thread and also please consider making Steam "haters" (as they are often referred to) aware of this post. They are the people I am writing this for.
***************** Let's begin....
I downloaded the Steam client installer from the page: http://store.steampowered.com/ (the Install Steam Now button)
It was a tiny file so it was clear it would have to download during the install process.
Running SteamInstall.msi:
Installation process:
-Steam has finished updating and now requires me to login. Since I have created a Steam account in the past, I use that now. I happened to remember my password but if you didn't there is an option to retrieve your login info.
-Pressing the login button, the program interface freezes (unresponsive) for several seconds but then appears to be logging in correctly.
Another update starts automatically but this one doesn't take long at all (less than 30 seconds)
-The first thing that popped up as soon as Steam finished updating:
This almost freaked me out. It's like this software is reading my mind. I didn't sign up for that!
-To note: The instant large popup banner immediately gives the user the impression that Valve means business and that Steam will be used as a marketing tool. This could be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective.
Note the price shown is in USD but I am not in the US. You are a lucky chappy if you're in the US as Civ5 will be cheaper. Note the price is set by the publisher (2K Games).
-Clicking on the button to show me more details, it takes me to Steam's page for the game where I can watch the trailer, add civ5 or its deluxe edition to the cart and gives some brief info on the game. Nothing out of the ordinary!
-I'm happy for now so I hit the x button at the corner to close the window. This minimise it to the tray. This again is common for this type of software but I do appreciate when programs actually check what you want the default behaviour to be. Right clicking on the tray icon, you can indeed ask it to exit from there. At that point, the Steam client process is indeed terminated as Process Explorer reveals.
-I now go on a hunt to turn off ads. I try this without any external instructions.
I see that under the Steam menu there is a settings submenu. Under the Interface tab I notice:
-I uncheck the boxes circled and I'm done.
Ads will no longer popup and the Steam client will no longer load itself on system startup (running the freeware autoruns or checking the startup folders yourself confirms this fact
).
I note that this was a very easy and obvious process. The main thing is knowing that it can be done.
Many Steam users also use this screen to set their favorite window (the one that loads up as default when you start Steam) to the list of games (the library) rather than the store.
-I decide to have a look at the system resources being used:
-I go back to the client and switch a few windows and open the friends lst etc., trying to get the system usage up a bit.
-Letting Steam idle again, here is an illustration of what the Steam process on my PC is using: (This is while the steam client UI is active with webpages etc. loaded into memory. If you minimise it to the tray, the memory usage will be lower. For my machine, it was approximately 80-90% memory usage reduction.)
The Steam client itself is not all that scary and considering how bad my internet connection is I was pleasantly surprised to see that installing it was easy.
So there you have it. My first impressions returning to Steam after not having used it for nearly a year.
For a follow up, I have also posted my experience with a hung-update problem.
This time I did not look so kindly upon Steam.
Love it or hate it, if you're gonna play civ5 you're gonna need it.
I figured since there's a lot of uncertainty about Steam in this forum I'd do a quick rundown of my first impressions of it as I return. I have used Steam for one game in the past but never bothered to look much into what the client is or does.
For people already familiar with Steam, I understand you probably won't personally find this very informative. However, feel free to add any information to the thread and also please consider making Steam "haters" (as they are often referred to) aware of this post. They are the people I am writing this for.
***************** Let's begin....
I downloaded the Steam client installer from the page: http://store.steampowered.com/ (the Install Steam Now button)
It was a tiny file so it was clear it would have to download during the install process.
Running SteamInstall.msi:
Installation process:
Spoiler :
-Steam has finished updating and now requires me to login. Since I have created a Steam account in the past, I use that now. I happened to remember my password but if you didn't there is an option to retrieve your login info.
-Pressing the login button, the program interface freezes (unresponsive) for several seconds but then appears to be logging in correctly.
Another update starts automatically but this one doesn't take long at all (less than 30 seconds)
-The first thing that popped up as soon as Steam finished updating:
Spoiler :
This almost freaked me out. It's like this software is reading my mind. I didn't sign up for that!
-To note: The instant large popup banner immediately gives the user the impression that Valve means business and that Steam will be used as a marketing tool. This could be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective.
Note the price shown is in USD but I am not in the US. You are a lucky chappy if you're in the US as Civ5 will be cheaper. Note the price is set by the publisher (2K Games).
-Clicking on the button to show me more details, it takes me to Steam's page for the game where I can watch the trailer, add civ5 or its deluxe edition to the cart and gives some brief info on the game. Nothing out of the ordinary!
-I'm happy for now so I hit the x button at the corner to close the window. This minimise it to the tray. This again is common for this type of software but I do appreciate when programs actually check what you want the default behaviour to be. Right clicking on the tray icon, you can indeed ask it to exit from there. At that point, the Steam client process is indeed terminated as Process Explorer reveals.
-I now go on a hunt to turn off ads. I try this without any external instructions.
I see that under the Steam menu there is a settings submenu. Under the Interface tab I notice:
-I uncheck the boxes circled and I'm done.
Ads will no longer popup and the Steam client will no longer load itself on system startup (running the freeware autoruns or checking the startup folders yourself confirms this fact
).I note that this was a very easy and obvious process. The main thing is knowing that it can be done.
Many Steam users also use this screen to set their favorite window (the one that loads up as default when you start Steam) to the list of games (the library) rather than the store.
-I decide to have a look at the system resources being used:
-I go back to the client and switch a few windows and open the friends lst etc., trying to get the system usage up a bit.
Spoiler :
-Letting Steam idle again, here is an illustration of what the Steam process on my PC is using: (This is while the steam client UI is active with webpages etc. loaded into memory. If you minimise it to the tray, the memory usage will be lower. For my machine, it was approximately 80-90% memory usage reduction.)
The Steam client itself is not all that scary and considering how bad my internet connection is I was pleasantly surprised to see that installing it was easy.
So there you have it. My first impressions returning to Steam after not having used it for nearly a year.
For a follow up, I have also posted my experience with a hung-update problem.
This time I did not look so kindly upon Steam.
Love it or hate it, if you're gonna play civ5 you're gonna need it.
