I used to try and avoid Steam, Origin and U-play but I've given up trying, The best titles require one or the other unfortunately so I set up an account for each and when I can I keep to just Steam, They all seem to run fine for me.
You can get The Sims 2 and all 18 expansions for free on Origin at the moment. All you need to do is go to the activate game section on Origin and put this in the code box: I-LOVE-THE-SIMS
Cool beans. I don't get hate for Origin. In some ways it runs better than Steam which feels terribly clunky most of the time.
But back when it was called EA Download Manager, that thing was pure garbage.
I used to try and avoid Steam, Origin and U-play but I've given up trying, The best titles require one or the other unfortunately so I set up an account for each and when I can I keep to just Steam, They all seem to run fine for me.