Steam Guard

[zarker]

Is there any point to this piece of trash they call "protection"? On 3 separate occasions I've had to contact Steam's terrible support to get my account back due to Steam Guard not sending confirmation in my emails. (3 different emails, it's a problem on their end.) So,I did the logical thing and turned the pos off. Now that I've bought the 4-pack of Chivalry that was on sale for my friends, I can't even give the 3 extra to them because you have to have Steam Guard activated for 15 days.

This is idiotic, anyway to circumvent this instead of waiting half a month so I can play the damn game I bought with my friends? Help would be much appreciated.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

I think Steam Guard only gives off an aura of complete protection, because let's be honest -- if someone wants access to your account, they're gonna get it no matter what kind of blocks are put in the way. Valve certainly need to put some more work into it as far as ease of use and overall effectiveness is concerned.

If you contacted Valve and didn't get an immediate answer back, the only thing you can do is wait until they finally get around to looking at your emails. Pro tip here: if you continually pester them with follow up emails, it's only going to make the wait longer and they may just throw your communications into the trash and never bother with your inquiry (yeah, that's something they do if they feel like they're being pushed). Keep in mind that it can take them up to a week to reply.

You can't circumvent Steam Guard requirements, so your only recourse is to wait it out.

 

[nykirnsu]

I'm having this problem as well; I sent them an email over SteamSupport a couple of days ago.

 

[omegaweopon]

I've had to work with Steam Guard multiple times, due to the frequency of reformats, and changing things around. It's always worked as intended for me, and I am quite happy to see it bugging me when it does. Makes me feel like the large investment I've made into my games is protected.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

I think Steam Guard only gives off an aura of complete protection, because let's be honest -- if someone wants access to your account, they're gonna get it no matter what kind of blocks are put in the way. Valve certainly need to put some more work into it as far as ease of use and overall effectiveness is concerned.

Umm, it very much works as intended as protection against Phishing and Hacks or Keyloggers etc.
For someone to take over ones account they need: Steam Login (Username/Password), Mail-address of the one owning the account and the password there which is substantially more information and unlikely to happen than just the Steam password itself.

Sure, for the most part Steam Guard works. But there was at least one mass instance early after its release where thousands of users received false access warnings, and there were a handful of reports about people getting arbitrarily locked out of their accounts. It's also easy enough to browse through the Steam forums and find complaints about other issues that pop up from time to time. My point was that the system isn't perfect and could use some improvement.

And, no matter how many layers of protection Steam Guard may have, there's always going to be a way to get around them.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

It works as intended for me, I just wish there was a way to tie it to a specific computer or something so you didn't have to do it all over again every time you log in from your web browser instead of the built in one on Steam. Some of the features of the store and community work better from a regular web browser, but I usually wind up sitting there waiting for the Steam client to get off its ass and render my page, because it's less hassle than going through the rigamarole with the e-mail account.

 

[SadisticFire]

I've always felt the Steam Guard was nice because I've yet to run into any real issue in it. It's always worked for me and has never failed once for my account. Though if they do get in contact with you I think you'll need to get a receipt of one of your purchases if you haven't, probably do, but always make sure completely prepared.

 

[Snotnarok]

So turn it off, but if something happens don't post about how they didn't do enough to keep your account safe.

Hassle vs loss of games and banning in games, don't think there's even an option there.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

I have to use Steam guard pretty much once a week due a quirk in my internet and I've never had any problems with it. It's annoying, but I get it's supposed to prevent people from breaking in and stealing all my precious vidya games. A bit strange how it's not working for you though and kind of annoying with the Chivalry thing, hopefully Valve can get their shit together and help you.

 

[Dryk]

I have not heard of this problem before, but it seems annoying. Did you figure out why you weren't receiving the emails?

Umm, it very much works as intended as protection against Phishing and Hacks or Keyloggers etc.
For someone to take over ones account they need: Steam Login (Username/Password), Mail-address of the one owning the account and the password there which is substantially more information and unlikely to happen than just the Steam password itself.

Bonus points if you do what I do and have the codes sent to a Gmail account that requires a code that is sent to a mobile phone

 

[BishopofAges]

Sorry for your issues. I've never had a problem with it, so I have a hard time relating to your post, I will just show myself out.

 

[lacktheknack]

I think Steam Guard only gives off an aura of complete protection, because let's be honest -- if someone wants access to your account, they're gonna get it no matter what kind of blocks are put in the way. Valve certainly need to put some more work into it as far as ease of use and overall effectiveness is concerned.

You realize that Gabe Newell released his freaking password to his Steam account because he was so sure that SteamGuard would work, right? And guess what: No one got in! Are you going to tell me that Gabe Freaking Newell's account is not in high demand?

It works absolutely great. You can't dismiss anything off hand because "hackers will figure it out". Hackers haven't even figured out reliable salt and hash algorithms. It's like saying "Don't bother disconnecting your computer from the wall and shooting it with a shotgun, hackers will find a way in anyways."

OT: It works great over here. No issues sending passwords, I'm locked into three devices, and I'm as happy as a clam.

 

[Something Amyss]

if someone wants access to your account, they're gonna get it no matter what kind of blocks are put in the way.

Just out of curiosity, do you lock your doors?

I mean, if someone wants access to your home, they're gonna get it no matter what kind of blocks you put in the way, right?

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

if someone wants access to your account, they're gonna get it no matter what kind of blocks are put in the way.

Just out of curiosity, do you lock your doors?

I mean, if someone wants access to your home, they're gonna get it no matter what kind of blocks you put in the way, right?

Oh man, that's a great reply. Good job.

 

[zarker]

So turn it off, but if something happens don't post about how they didn't do enough to keep your account safe.

Hassle vs loss of games and banning in games, don't think there's even an option there.

It was turned off. Been off for over a year and never had a problem. Except without it on I can't trade the games I bought specifically to be traded and there's zero warning about it either. >.>

Glad no one else has had this problem. Today after an hour or so of testing, only one of my households email addresses gets the Steam Guard confirmations (A Yahoo email). Aol seems to be a real problem for it though so future users of Steam Guard be warned.

 

[loc978]

Steamguard is the one email service I've used that actually shows up in my inbox the moment I get the message though the Steam client. You're sure it didn't get spam-filtered or otherwise lost? Is your email account on gmail? If not, I would recommend getting one just for your Steam account. Seriously, it shows up in like... a few miliseconds. I should know, I play around with OSes a lot. Every time I reinstall stuff in Wine or mess around with my Windows installation I need another key.

 

[Charli]

Never had a single problem with it in the 3 computers and 2 re-formats I've had to use it...

Sorry you're experiencing issues.

Steam is actually one of the few that tends to get mail to me no matter what, so either your Email settings are set to HYPER PARANOIA... or you spam blocked something like it a long time ago and now you just don't receive it anymore.

Either one sounds odd to me... Even Blizzard have managed to fail more times in getting mail to me than Valve, and that was only once as well...

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

So turn it off, but if something happens don't post about how they didn't do enough to keep your account safe.

Hassle vs loss of games and banning in games, don't think there's even an option there.

It was turned off. Been off for over a year and never had a problem. Except without it on I can't trade the games I bought specifically to be traded and there's zero warning about it either. >.>

Glad no one else has had this problem. Today after an hour or so of testing, only one of my households email addresses gets the Steam Guard confirmations (A Yahoo email). Aol seems to be a real problem for it though so future users of Steam Guard be warned.

AOL still exists?

I thought it went the way most dotcom companies and vanished into the aether.

Or is TimeWarner still dragging it along?

 

[Amir Kondori]

I think Steam Guard only gives off an aura of complete protection, because let's be honest -- if someone wants access to your account, they're gonna get it no matter what kind of blocks are put in the way.

That is just not true. The only way people are going to get into your account is if you do something stupid. Like giving out your password. Like signing in on an unsecured computer. Like not securing your own computer. There has been documented case of accounts being compromised on Valve's end.

 

[Aeshi]

It seems to work just fine for me, but I shut it off anyways, simply because the inconvenience of "Go open (and then check) your email for the code and then copy-paste it into the box" every few hours/days was starting to outweigh the security it offers.