Can you get viruses from Steam and it's games?

[iamdumberthanyou]

I've been using Steam for 4 years and never came across a virus from downloading games. My parents have a computer that's very fast unlike my laptop which is slow. They have very classified info on it and I downloaded Steam on it few months ago. I played on it and was super fast. Smooth quality and all that. Let get straight to the point. My parents think the computer will be compromised by malware and everything and all of our data, passwords, pictures; because of Steam. Like I said. I never came across a virus. They don't believe me. What should I tell them? I say its safe but for them, it's not.

[Rype]

引用自 OxiClean：

I've been using Steam for 4 years and never came across a virus from downloading games. My parents have a computer that's very fast unlike my laptop which is slow. They have very classified info on it and I downloaded Steam on it few months ago. I played on it and was super fast. Smooth quality and all that. Let get straight to the point. My parents think the computer will be compromised by malware and everything and all of our data, passwords, pictures; because of Steam. Like I said. I never came across a virus. They don't believe me. What should I tell them? I say its safe but for them, it's not.

It is safe.Idk how to conceive them though.

[Cathulhu]

While Steam is safe, i'd never use it on a device with business critical or sensitive data. That's simply best practice.

[Eldin]

All games on Steam are 100% without viruses.
And that's one of the reasons why purchasing games on Steam is better than downloading them from shady websites.

Usually if you're downloading pirated games, there's a high chance that people who cracked it put some viruses inside.
But with Steam it's 100% safe.

[Jerry]

Intensive virus checks are one of the points, where Steam actually practises quality control. That does of course not mean, that there can be no malware in Steam titles (a while back, one game was removed after it was found to be mining bitcoins), as new threats can and will slip under the radar at first for any virus checker, but it is propably not possible to get something into the store, that has known baddies in it.
And so far, Steam is not yet among the first targets when new malware is spread, so unknown threats are more likely to cause harm and be found out about elsewhere. Hopefully it stays this way.

But honestly, if this is just about performance issues with your own computer, maybe you should downgrade your taste in games a little. Any computer or laptop that is able to run Windows 7 and upward without crashing will be able to at least run some of the store selection smoothly.
No need to go against the will of your parents.

[nullable]

引用自 OxiClean：

I've been using Steam for 4 years and never came across a virus from downloading games. My parents have a computer that's very fast unlike my laptop which is slow. They have very classified info on it and I downloaded Steam on it few months ago. I played on it and was super fast. Smooth quality and all that. Let get straight to the point. My parents think the computer will be compromised by malware and everything and all of our data, passwords, pictures; because of Steam. Like I said. I never came across a virus. They don't believe me. What should I tell them? I say its safe but for them, it's not.

You generally won't see viruses or malware in games from legitimate sources. A lot of effort goes into maintaining data integrity, and with a large user base like Steam's anything would be caught and reported in minutes because there's plenty of software developers and security experts among the userbase.


That being said they can just say no regardless of how weak their justifications are.

So the answer could be get older and get a job.

[saj]

i have played games on steam for 3 years but i did not got a virus



steam is actually safe

[AustrAlien2010]

I don't think I ever received a virus from Steam, but people are free to believe whatever they want. There is nothing you can tell them to convince them otherwise, because its their device and they may decide what they install on it, if they own it.

In some sense, Steam itself is a form of mallware, because it sells software to users. They aren't completely wrong by saying that. But then google play or windows store is mallware too, because that also sells software to users. Its all mallware.

[Jack Schitt]

You won't get anything from downloading and playing games on the Steam network. Stay off of the friends list and other communication services like the friends list, discord, facebook, twitter, etc where other people can directly contact you and it will be safe from viruses and malware.

Viruses come from website links most of the time. Not games. If you avoid communication services where people with bad intentions can contact and try to make you (and that computer) their victim you avoid the problems.

[TwiZzy]

good

[Krultist]

nah just nah yesterday i factory reset my entire pc i got a virus and it said it was from steam and all i did was download aim labs the previous day

[Krultist]

btw the virus was idp.alexa.53 i tried defending against it but it took all my admin rights so i couldn't enable internet and all that

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

引用自 maddypigpug：

btw the virus was idp.alexa.53 i tried defending against it but it took all my admin rights so i couldn't enable internet and all that

That is a false positive and not the reason your stuff is all screwed up. 3 seconds in google would of told you that. Get a better AV

[CrankFlame8]

引用自 tropics：

I've been using Steam for 4 years and never came across a virus from downloading games. My parents have a computer that's very fast unlike my laptop which is slow. They have very classified info on it and I downloaded Steam on it few months ago. I played on it and was super fast. Smooth quality and all that. Let get straight to the point. My parents think the computer will be compromised by malware and everything and all of our data, passwords, pictures; because of Steam. Like I said. I never came across a virus. They don't believe me. What should I tell them? I say its safe but for them, it's not.

you can get viruses,sadly.i got one and had to factory reset my PC. look out for something called Santivirus

[Muppet among Puppets]

There are games with known exploits.
Correct me if i am wrong, cod bo 2 multiplayer for example.

But the delivered games themself do not contain malware.

[ペンギン]

The problem is more external content. As example publisher sites on storepages which leading to malicious content, Steam overlay as tool for advertising, analytics and tracking campaigns (hello Paradox Interactive, AB and Creative Assembly/Sega Games Co., Ltd.) and some smaller annoyances leaving the customers often here with a big unknown factor.

As example with nested redirects
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2105597382
Since the screenshot was made last year, the appearance of the domain changed a few times. At times completely down, now normal content seems to be presented. But in the end the linkfilter in Steam is useless in this case.

Especially this can be dangerous when other sites take over content published on Steam like SteamDB and there are many more examples from hijacked or unmaintained websites from publishers and developers around here.

With offered products (games) and flagged (false) positive behaviour from several so called security software are always seen on a case by case base

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Thoughtful use of platform, behavior and own data is therefore never wrong and security is a term that everyone may see differently. Beginning from advertising, PUA, exploits, web treats and so on...