13 minutes ago, blingthinger said:

Steam is the mother of all game distribution platforms: the first and by far biggest. It's extremely convenient and is the only way to get many games available today. If the app isn't meant to be tinkered with (ie most video games), it's a very nice system to work with. It's mind boggling to think of how much money it prints for Valve. I'd wager that it's single handedly the primary reason why you really can't buy PC games at a physical store anymore. Certainly not like you used to be able to do. Or in other words, for most video game customers there is literally no other choice.

I pretty much use xplane and nothing else. Rather be outside riding a bike, having coffee with mates, walking on the beach. I do have at least 3 other games havnt touched in years. Since in the end of it, these days you dont own any of them at least with cds and floppy disks you had something tangible.

6 hours ago, mjrhealth said:

NVIDIA now by default installs there stupid app, which you have to than go uninstall, Another piece of useless nonsense

Not for some, it provides and easy means to record video (even VRR), provide metrics overlay so you can see the actual performance of the GPU, ease of feature configurations such as DLSS, FG, etc.  Even when using it to record video, the overhead is less than 1 fps (below margin of error).

But on the security side of things, having my CC distributed across multiple resellers of XP products is NOT something I want.  In fact, one such popular XP reseller’s website was hacked and my credentials were obtained and I didn’t get any notification.  The only way I found out was because I use MalwareByte ultimate and dark web scanning and other tools that identify breaches and one of my credentials came up and it was from a very popular XP reseller website (I’ll avoid naming … for now).  I track all my credentials so I know exactly what site has what so I can trace back in case of security breach.  Some of these reseller websites are so poorly funded then don’t have proper security measures in place, heck some of them store plain text passwords!! (as in the case of my discovery).  

This is sadly common, even the installers don’t have CA certificates from a qualified institution (they’re not that expensive to obtain and the company background checks take 2 weeks tops so long as the reseller company provides sufficient documentation).

To make a long story, short, yeah I want a single point of exposure for my flight sim purchases as it reduces my exposure to hackers and malicious people wanting something for nothing.

52 minutes ago, SayAgain said:

XP reseller’s website was hacked and my credentials were obtained

You too eh? I had to close 2 credit cards within a few month's span because of this (the original and then the replacement). After the second instance I switched to paypal and all has been fine since. Direct-from-LR has never been suspect on my radar but I can see why someone would go with the comfort of Valve's security in Steam in an attempt to avoid the smaller players who tend to be a bit more of a wild card.

No such thing as internet security. Everytime you enter your card details you are exposed. An it security guy from my bank told me his card details have being compromised more than mine. And hes the expert. Convenience is just that, for eveyone, remember those days when reading some girls diary risked being hung drawn and qautered, now its all iver the internet for all to see.

37 minutes ago, mjrhealth said:

No such thing as internet security.

All the internet security firms would have been out of business if this were true.

There are places where data security is taken seriously and there are places where it is a joke. 

 

1 hour ago, mjrhealth said:

No such thing as internet security

Oh yes there is, LOTS of it and with some VERY expensive equipment (hardware and software).  In fact, I’m currently working with our corporate security team due to an issue with one of our partners websites use of cross-domain and a plain-text cookie triggering 400 bad request due to Zscalar catching it.

Website attacks are 24/7 and endless as is the prevention and detection of malicious actors/governments, if we had no security there would be no internet.

4 hours ago, brinx said:

All the internet security firms would have been out of business if this were true.

It is true thats why they have a business. If the internet was secure they wouldnt be needed, Funny Hey.

1 hour ago, mjrhealth said:

If the internet was secure they wouldnt be needed, Funny Hey.

So let’s get rid of all the prisons then?

1 hour ago, mjrhealth said:

It is true thats why they have a business. If the internet was secure they wouldnt be needed, Funny Hey.

A deliberate misunderstanding.
"Internet security" does not mean that the internet is secure, it means measures taken to secure activity on the internet.
Exactly like locking a door to keep unwanted visitors out does not mean that the world is safe from unwanted visitors.

 

1 hour ago, Reader said:

A deliberate misunderstanding.
"Internet security" does not mean that the internet is secure, it means measures taken to secure activity on the internet.
Exactly like locking a door to keep unwanted visitors out does not mean that the world is safe from unwanted visitors.

 

So there is no internet security, if there was there would not be so much business in stolen data cards etc. No misunderstanding. Hence me using it as little as possible. 

Edited September 25, 2025Sep 25 by mjrhealth

It would benefit discussions and mutual understanding if everyone had to say their age (I am 55) 😆

Edited September 25, 2025Sep 25 by Litjan

63 Ex defence

22 hours ago, SayAgain said:

But on the security side of things, having my CC distributed across multiple resellers of XP products is NOT something I want. 

I haven’t used my real CC in years. I just use https://www.privacy.com/

Just create virtual cards for different merchants. You can assign a spending limit on any card be it a daily, monthly or yearly limit. 
Also you can create one time use virtual cards. 

15 hours ago, mjrhealth said:

So there is no internet security, if there was there would not be so much business in stolen data cards etc. No misunderstanding. Hence me using it as little as possible. 

Absolutely, the internet is not secure, just like your house isn't if you don't lock the doors.
Similarly, if you never go out, your chances of becoming a victim outside your home become negligible.

However, there is plenty of internet security on offer and within that and using a healthy dose of common sense,
the internet can be a safe and fascinating place to visit.

On 9/23/2025 at 7:37 AM, Patco Lch said:

I’ve decided to purchase XPlane 12 and was wondering if there are any advantages of Steam over Aerosoft or Laminar Research. 
I noticed Steam offers some freeware for XP but just not so crazy about having to start their app every time I use the sim so I’m leaning toward purchasing directly from LR. 
This platform seems to come with so much that took a king’s ransom (or at least an arch dukes) in addons to get the same look and functionality of my present P3DV5.4 Including some in depth freeware aircraft. 
Im wondering if there is a consensus on which store to go to. Opinions appreciated.

Direct download is always best for me when that option is available. I bought some 3rd party stuff from MSFS and the updates came way later than what the developer was offering to direct buyers. Months later. Very frustrating.