| Guys,
I don't know what you've been told or read, but once you've activated your Steam account and registered your games, it doesn't need to authenticate you each time IF you've checked the option to remember your username and password (which is checked by default).
Also, I've re-installed HL2 on my new machine and all you have to do is sign in to Steam and it knows you've got access to those games, so it just unlocks all of the files for you.
Just remember that it's there for a reason - to stop people playing the game without paying for it and bumping up the price for people like you and me who actually pay out for the game.
As far as I'm aware, there is no working patch or crack for HL2 at this time - all the ones available have simply been key-loggers and trojans to steal your genuine registration key!
As for the levels in HL2 - wait until you get the Bug Bait and start ordering the Ant Lions around ... now that IS cool!
I've now finished the Nova Prospekt level (chapter 9) and I'm on the last level "Entanglement", so I'm waiting for some really big monsters to come and kick my a$$!  |