Because only an idiot trust windows, WinPatrol monitors your computer for sensitive system changes and alerts you when they happen, i don't see windows doing that, i guess you also don't run firewalls and anti-virus software too because they also come in shareware versions too.

The built in firewall is good enough.

And no I don't run any antivirus because a little common sense plus always having the latest Windows Updates protects against all known malware, except zero-day attacks which antivirus doesn't work against anyway.

That program sounds like it slows your system down as much a virus would, if it polls every part of your system constantly.

What if this Winpatrol is logging your keystrokes and sending them back? Not saying it is, but how would you know?

I don't love Microsoft but I trust them because if they weren't doing their job on security, millions of business customers would be complaining.

Hahahahah what? You can stop it from logging on automatically from the settings....

MSE is my preferred choice of firewall/AV.

I also don't see the point of downloading an additional program just to stop a few startup programs running, and in the case of Steam there is even an option to stop it running on startup without going into msconfig.

i have no doubt thar LOL and WoW are huge since LoL is free anyway, even i play that game sometimes. Bf3 not so much.

www.bf3stats.com

SC2 yes in Korea.

don't know what this is all about. we all know that console gaming is still bigger in countries like usa/uk and that pc gaming is bigger in some asian countries and as example in germany (if you compare it with ps3 as example). but steam almost doubled userbase in two years which is very good. with the next console gen, consoles start from 0 and steam or other services won't have to start from 0 anymore if it comes to the userbase able to play new games on that service.

Most PC gamers don't even use steam, so using steam statistics cover only tiny fraction of PC gamers. Even those games bought from steam are mostly not on that statistic because you can easily play them offline and/or without starting steam. So, you can play HL2 etc but you are not shown in statistic. Heck, you can play HL2 online and you are still not shown in statistic.

On PS3 you can only game online with PSN.

On XBox360 you can online game online with LIVE.

With PC you have a choice between multiple programs, not just Steam.

What is the point of this thread?

These are just a few games. I don't know what games are big in China or Eastern europe but those territories alone have millions online at any given time. Piracy is also rampant there so are games there owned by multiple millions that we don't know about. I bet the biggest MMOs in China/taiwan/hong kong alone have more people playing than PSN or XBL.

But this is about Steam so I guess with only Steam considered, it's not as big as consoles. 

That's fine if your on a redundant network, but no way would i connect to the internet without heuristic analysis, but even with the very best security software, there still no existing 100% secure computer connected to the net .