How do you prefer to defend your King?  I often use The Kings Indian Defence.  All though there are many different defences, and it all depends on the position, I prefer The Kings Indian or not castling at all... 

it depends on position and opening. As a beginner, you should go for castling most of the time, but as you improve, you realise in some positions you do not have to castle.

I actually dont prefer to castle that much...  Espeacially early if I can avoid it since it basicly puts your king in the corner pefectly centered for a "Queen/Knight or Bishop ambush".  "Back rank" mate also has to be gaurded against.

Castling puts your king in a safe place in corner, while not castling puts you in the center of the board for a queen,rook, knight,bishop ambush. You should probably watch other's games before making such rash conclusions.

yeah, checking out games where the king is in the center too long is a good way to see why its good to castle cheese. this is one of the more popular ones-

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1132699

 Well, check out this game, you going to like what u see!  Cheers!!