Anyone have problems running steam offline?

I expect that since this is the "off topic discussion" no one will give me grief about posting something non-felarya related.

Anyway, I've been trying to run steam offline, but the problem is whenever I do so I get "Could not connect to Steam network. This could be due to a problem with your Internet connection, or with the Steam network. Please visit www.steampowered.com for more info."

Of course it can't connect to the internet. I'm starting it in offline mode because I'm not connected. It then tries to update, which it shouldn't be able to because, like I said, offline. When I do get it online, I don't get any updates, steam is already updated fully, but the notion that you need to be updated fully online to do something offline is just silly.

Then I could rant about how every game (even the retail versions bought in stores and not on steam) still absolutely require a steam account, and application running on your computer. If steam isn't running properly, then you can't play any games. Its aggravating, and if I bought a game, I bought the right to play it whenever I choose. It's stuff like this that makes me want to pirate games.

In your steam directory

1. Rename ClientRegistry.blob to ClientRegistryOld.blob and restart Steam
   
2. Exit Steam and delete everything under the Steam installation directory except Steam.exe, the ClientRegistryOld.blob, and the \SteamApps folder

That doesn't sound too safe to me. Sounds like I could easily screw up the program. Steam gets negative points for not being user-friendly.

It's basically reinstalling steam., without deleting your games. I've done it before.

except the exe doesn't work without the .dll's those are pretty essential, and after you delete everything, then what?

You run steam.exe
It should work. Those instructions are taken straight from steam support.