The window also raises your CPU use by a bunch if you have it open, so it should help with that as well.

I always close the window but then again, Steam hates Vista.

My car is a piece of shit, about an order of magnitude less valuable (at purchase, worth even less now) than that theoretical car you mentioned, my TV cost me $0 because it's easy to get free CRTs nowadays. Do you know what I do when I have saved up all my pennies? I go to the supermarket and splurge on some vegetables. Not everyone is as rich as you are, and perhaps you should remember that.

Who doesn't?

better yet instead of closing make the desktop shortcut offered when install/downloading the game and not have the problem in the first place. 

I don't buy original software because it's too damn expensive here (I live in Venezuela). My family is middle class and we have a small hotel, so we make lots of money. The problem is that a video game here costs roughly 10 times more (relatively to the salaries) than in developed countries. Seeing as the minimun wage here is about 120$, you can't expect people to spend half their income in a videogame. For me, it's just not worth it, I feel like being ripped off by the government.

It seems that this case is true throughout the world. $50 in the US is one thing, but in other areas it's a ridiculous amount relative to incomes. It seems companies haven't realized this yet.

Not true in the least. I am an admitted media pirate. I used to do it a lot. I have collections of TV series like you wouldn't believe. The majority is stuff I either have on DVD, isn't available in a convinient manner. or is not affordable on DVD. Download prices are a fucking joke to me as its the same damn price but less usable. You know what has completely stopped me though? As in not anything at all downloaded? Hulu Plus.

I have been given a huge range of TV shows I like, available quickly, and at a very affordable rate. $8 a month is not a complete write off given my current financial situation, but certainly nothing beyond what I could afford. Certainly more than nothing, and not even as good a selection as I get from my go to torrent site. Still I have reformed through a method the TV and movie industry is completely dismissing.

I know I will download more TV soon, as one series I like decided that Hulu should get the episodes a month later. This was the problem I had with the original Hulu as well. I am not going to wait a week when a more convient, and all around superior option is available to me. The sooner more tv and movie studios get on board with the sooner their money will soar. Guaranteed knowledge of the number of viewers, how often seen, ads personlized to make them MORE effective while selling the same slot to separate advertisers with no conflict, and more.

Admittedly this is a bit of a tangent but it is meant to illustrate a point. The problem with piracy is the perception of what piracy is. It is not consumers snubbing the creators. It is the consumers stating there is a problem with the method of consumption. Want to drop piracy rates? Address that problem. Once the gap in service, and affordability drop the revenues and profit margins will sky rocket. Give a granularity in pricing for video games, improve methods of distribution, and give players incentives to keep the games they own and piracy will become a laughable after-thought.