Technologies

Get Into the Holiday Spirit and Share Your Steam Library With Friends

Feeling generous? Steam’s Family Library Sharing gives you a chance to share your gaming library with other people on specific devices.

This story is part of 12 Days of Tips, helping you make the most of your tech, home and health during the holiday season.

With its no-strings-attached approach and frequent sales, Steam — Valve’s digital gaming distribution service — makes it easy for gamers to build up sizable gaming libraries. Unlike game subscription services (Xbox Game Pass, Apple Arcade, Google Play Pass), you can purchase individual games on Steam without a monthly commitment.

Another perk? Steam Family Sharing lets you share your game library with others. Even though this feature is aimed at helping parents distribute and monitor what their kids play, it also lets you lend games to your friends. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to share your Steam library.

How to protect your account with Steam Guard

Safeguarding your game library should be your top priority. This way, even if you share your account, everything will still be protected and within your control. To do that, you need to enable Steam Guard. Steam Guard — which is free to turn on — provides an additional level of security that protects your account from unauthorized access.

Here’s how to enable Steam Guard on your account with the desktop app or in browser:

1. Go to Steam’s homepage and make sure you’re logged in.

2. In the upper right corner, click your username.

3. In the drop-down menu, click Account Details.

4. Scroll down to Account Security and click Manage Steam Guard.

From there, you can choose between having Steam Guard codes sent to your phone or email, or you can turn Steam Guard off entirely. You’ll also see the option to deauthorize all other computers or devices other than the one you’re currently using that might have saved your login information. Steam recommends sending Guard codes to your phone as a form of two-factor authentication.

How to share your Steam game library

Log into your family member or friend’s computer with your Steam account to get started. You can do this from your app, here’s how:

1. In the top left corner, click Steam.

2. Select Settings (on Windows) or Preferences (on Mac) from the drop-down menu.

3. Select Family in the side menu

4. Click the box that says Authorize Library Sharing on this computer.

This gives you the option to authorize any accounts that have also logged into the same computer. If no one else has, you’ll get a message saying «No other local accounts found.» After this is complete, log out of your account and your friend or family member can log back into theirs. They should now have the ability to download and install select games from your library.

You can select up to five users who can access and use your library across 10 devices that you’ve authorized. While you can’t set up Family Sharing in a browser, you can check which devices and accounts have access to your Steam Library. You can also revoke access.

Here’s how to check in the Steam app:

1. In the upper right corner, click your username.

2. In the drop-down menu, click Account Details.

3. Scroll down to Family Settings and click Manage Family Library Sharing.

4. If any accounts or devices have access that you no longer wish to, you can click Revoke under Sharing Status.

Checking in a browser is essentially the same, once you log into the Steam site:

1. Go to Steam’s homepage and make sure you’re logged in.

2. In the upper right corner, click your username.

3. In the drop-down menu, click Account Details.

4. Scroll down to Family Settings and click Manage Family Library Sharing.

5. If any accounts or devices have access that you no longer wish to, you can click Revoke under Sharing Status.

Pros of sharing your gaming library with Steam Family Sharing

Sharing your games with others.
Being able to try out games when your family or friends share their account with you.
Parents can have a bit more control over games their younger children may play.
Easy to view and revoke access to who has access to your library.
Gives the user you’re sharing with a chance to try a game without investing money right away.

Cons of sharing your gaming library with Steam Family Sharing

Steam’s sharing features aren’t perfect.
Only five accounts can access your gaming library from up to 10 different computers.
You need an internet connection to access the shared libraries.
Libraries can only be shared in their entirety.
Some games don’t qualify for sharing because they require a subscription.
Shared games can only be accessed by one person at a time, so you won’t be able to easily play games together.
The account holder has priority access to their games. If you start playing a game while another person is already playing, they’ll have the option to buy the game or end the session.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, May 18

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for May 18.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword offers up two golf-computer clues, which sound confusing, but are pretty easy once you give them some thought. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get at those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Golf shot that’s also a piece of computer hardware
Answer: CHIP

5A clue: Golf shot that’s also a piece of computer hardware
Answer: DRIVE

6A clue: Screenwriter Sorkin
Answer: AARON

7A clue: Nonreactive, chemically
Answer: INERT

8A clue: «Bye-bye!»
Answer: SEEYA

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Origami bird
Answer: CRANE

2D clue: Person added to the staff
Answer: HIREE

3D clue: Material used to plate the skin of the Parthenon Athena and the statue of Zeus at Olympia
Answer: IVORY

4D clue: Five: Prefix
Answer: PENTA

5D clue: Speaker’s platform
Answer: DAIS

How to play more Mini Crosswords

The New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day’s Mini Crossword for free, but you’ll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for May 18, #237

Hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 237, for May 18.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

The blue group in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle played on my Gen X heart. If you know your classic video games, you’re golden here. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Not lose.

Green group hint: A baseball out.

Blue group hint: Glass Joe.

Purple group hint: Think Chicago.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Win

Green group: Strike out

Blue group: Classic sports video games

Purple group: Associated with Michael Jordan.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is win. The four answers are dub, triumph, victory and W.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is strike out. The four answers are fan, K, ring up and whiff.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is classic sports video games. The four answers are NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, Punch-Out and Tecmo Bowl.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with Michael Jordan. The four answers are 23, 6 rings, His Airness and Last Dance.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for May 18, #707

Hints and answers for Connections for May 18, #707.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections puzzle is a mix of difficult and easy. The purple category does what most purple categories do, and makes you really break down how you think about the words. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: School days.

Green group hint: About there!

Blue group hint: Sure, let’s go.

Purple group hint: The Scarlett Letter.