We think that almost all gamers know the wonderful Steam service. At one time, it made a splash, as Valve created not just another DRM service, but a first-class game store, which soon acquired all the characteristics of a social network as well.
Of course, the number of players who used it more or less regularly has steadily increased. Gradually, professional scammers appeared who were engaged in massive "hijacking" of players' accounts. Given that thousands of rubles were invested in many of them, this promised huge losses for users.
That's when the Steam Guard was born.
What is this?
This is the name of the system for linking an account to a specific hardware. Do not worry! Unlike other DRM services, the Valve program does not limit you in any way in the number of computers used: you only need to confirm your E-Mail, after which you can safely play even on a friend’s computer, even on a work machine. This is what Steam Guard is.
As you can see, the service is extremely useful, becauseallows you to prevent the theft of your account, while not interfering with its normal operation. Practice shows that if you have a strong password in your mailbox, the probability of "hijacking" an account protected by this technology is reduced to almost zero.
If protection is not enabled, an attacker will only have to guess the password to your account, which is not difficult for a professional.
How do I turn it on?
How to activate Steam Guard? It is very easy to do this. Launch Steam, then click on the button of the same name located at the top, on the left side of the application's working window. In the drop-down list, select "Settings", then click on it with the left mouse button. You will see a working window in which you can configure the "Defender" options.
In the first tab (Account) there is a button "Confirm email address". Click on it with the left mouse button, after which the client will automatically send a special letter to the email address that you specified during registration. Log into your mail program or log into your mailbox via the web interface.
Open the message sent to you, then follow the link in it. All! Your email address will be confirmed. The Steam client will also be asked to choose whether or not to use Steam Guard on this computer.
How to enable the service again
What to do if you refused to enable this option at first, but lateris there a need for it again? It's okay, it's easy to turn it on again. It is done like this. First, go to the Steam menu again, then go to the "Settings" item, which should have the "Security Status" option. If Steam Guard is not enabled, then there will be no icon in this line. In the case when there is an icon in the form of a green shield - everything is in order.
When you need to enable this service, you need to left-click on the "Manage settings" button. A dialog box will open with two options: "Protect my account" and "Turn off account protection". Of course, you should be interested in the first item.
You've almost done everything already. It remains only to click on the "Next" button, after which the service will be activated. In general, the setting of Steam Guard is over: the user cannot do anything else with this service.
What else is it for?
Inexperienced players often believe that this service is only to ensure the security of their account. This is not entirely true. Realizing that users should be encouraged to increase the security of their account, Valve came up with a cunning plan.
Almost since the advent of the Guard, only those players who have linked to an email address can participate in all internal exchanges. Among other things, this is how the company protects itself from scammers. It has been noticed that more often Steam Guard is not enabled on the computers of those users who are engaged in "left" fraud with buying games onstolen plastic cards.
Important nuances
It would seem that everything is as simple as possible. Alas, some users are faced with problems that they are unable to overcome. Let's discuss them so that the likelihood of unpleasant situations is somewhat smaller.
First of all, troubles often await those gamers who use mail from Yandex. First, letters from Guards are often sent straight to Spam. It is generally difficult for novice users to navigate the interface of the web version of the mail, and "experienced" users often prefer mail programs. Of course, the message sorted on the server will not get into it.
Thus, if you do not receive an email from Valve, go to your mailbox through your browser, then dig through the subfolders. There should be a "Spam" directory in which you can most likely find your missing mail. By the way, the same recommendations can be given to those users who have registered their mailbox with the domestic company Mail.ru.
Here's how to activate Steam Guard if you're having trouble receiving verification codes.
About hacks and crackers
But that's not all the hardships of being that may fall to the lot of users who prefer mail from a Russian search engine. The fact is that a couple of years ago information appeared on the Internet (including on the forums of Valve itself) that accounts that are linked to Yandex are “taken away” too often.
It is not clear what this is connected with, but the fact remains that even today many experienced gamers prefer not to work with this mail server. We would also recommend that you do not use this service to link to your account. You never know.
Important
Don't be naive! Now there are a huge number of "tools for disabling Guard" on the network. Allegedly, these programs allow you to use your Steam account without verifying your mailbox.
They are all either viruses or password thieves. First, such an application actually disables the security service, writes in it the mail address that belongs to its creator, and then steals the user's password. The next time you turn on Steam, such an unlucky player can no longer log into his account, since it has already been registered to a completely different person. The support service will not help you in any way: just mentioning that you used some third-party programs will automatically deny you support.
If you have lost access to your mailbox
What to do if for some reason you have lost access to your mailbox, and the support service (of the mailer itself) could not help you? Don't lose heart!
If you have ever bought games in Steam, you can easily register a new box. To do this, contact Valve technical support, providing them with information on the card (number and dates of transactions) with which you paid for your purchases. Information about dates and amounts can beeasy to get using the online banking service that almost all organizations of this kind have today.
Here's how to enable Steam Guard. We hope that you have learned about all the positive nuances of using this service, and therefore will not turn it off. In many cases, it really reliably protects your game account from the actions of intruders, so you should never refuse it.
Besides, don't forget about strong passwords not only for your account, but also for your mailbox.
