get a no-cd crack so you don't need to play with the cd. or try to run the game without the cd from steam. if you have steam you dont need to use the cd you could have just registered it with steam and they would give you the cd.

Yes, cracked Versions will have some Fixed online. Sometimes the Disks are not Written properly, so you may need to get some Fixes. Look for some Quick Fixes for Half-Life, or Contact Steam via Phone.

This is a retail version that I bought.

cracks should NEVER be used. Their use not only voids your license, they also openly show your support for software piracy.

"they also openly show your support for software piracy"
When software becomes unmanageable due to safeguards that is when it is time to take matters into your own hands.
I am showing my support for "Piracy" right now and have no fear from an authoritarian goon like yourself. If it is good I will pay, but I usually test drive cars before I buy them, and if the car has to be connected to the internet to start I wont buy it.

Nope. I bought a game and 2 weeks later I sat on the cd and broke it in half. To then play I had no choice but to buy a new game just for the dumb cd, or get a cd crack off the web. My getting the cd crack in NO WAY supported piracy. It supported one thing, me playing a game I paid for.

every software company I've dealt with has a replacement program for faulty disks.
Within a few weeks they'll usually do that for free, otherwise for a small fee.

I've personally dealt with Corel, Microsoft, Borland, Cavedog, Logitech, and others. In all cases I paid at most about €10 for a new diskset.
You'll be without the game for a week or two, but that's it.

Every time someone downloads a crack the writer's ego grows and his attitude of doing the right thing to thward the "evil" software companies gets reaffirmed.

You are lucky that every software company you dealt with had a replacement program. The cd in question I broke did not. I even contacted support to ask how I could go about getting a new cd. There answer was to buy a new one.

Most people who have these games download and install the no cd patches even when they do have the cd. This way they never have to go back and forth to the cdrom. They just run the game. IMO, these people are doing nothing wrong. And if someones ego grows because people find a use for his file, so be it. Not all patches or cracks are illegal and/or "wrong".

Get Steam updates. Im suprised u didnt have them in the first place.
For those who care, Steam update 4 or was it 5 for HL2 had the no-cd 'crack' in it. By Valve themselves.
I also purchased the Retail version (the one with Gordon on the cover, not the girl..) and i dont use the CD now. Not since approx 1 week after getting it anyways. (when the patch was AUTOMATICLY applied via Steam).

To be honest you are all right, to a degree. But fact is companies like valve are utterly anal and will not yeild to the publics wants and needs etc..

My advice. Do things properly. Install the game, FOLLOW the instructions, GET Steam and have it do all the hard work for you. If you like the game, Buy it and enjoy blissful auto-update heaven. If you dont, or just leeched a copy off the internet, shut the hell up complaining about 3rd rate cracked software

p.s. this week Valve permanently disabled 30,000 steam accounts due to their clever idea of releasing their own BitTorrent traceable version of the game