Steam is one of the most popular online platform where you can get all of your favorite PC games. Instead of going to a store to buy a physical copy of the game you can just download it to your computer which is quite convenient for most people. Although this is a stable platform there are instances when certain issues can occur. In this latest installment of our troubleshooting series we will tackle the Steam client running slow issue.
How To Fix Steam Client Running Slow Issue
Before performing any of the recommended troubleshooting steps listed below it’s best to restart your computer first. This action refreshes the operating system and remove any corrupt temporary data that could be causing the problem.
There are several factors that can cause the Stream client to run slow ranging from a hardware connection or even software related issue. Listed below are the troubleshooting steps that you need to do to fix the problem.
Try clearing the Steam browser cache and cookies
The Steam browser will usually accumulate of cached data. When this data gets huge it can sometimes get corrupted or become difficult to access thus resulting in this problem. If this is the culprit then you should try to clear the cache and cookies of the Steam browser.
- Open the Steam client by right clicking on it and selecting the option Run as administrator.
- Click on the tab of Steam present at the top left corner of the screen. From the drop-down box, click on Settings.
- Go to the Web Browser tab present on the left side of the screen. It will be the second last option on the left.
- You will see two buttons i.e. Delete Web Browser Cache and Delete Web Browser Cookies. One by one click both the options and let Steam do the work.
- A prompt will come forward asking you to confirm your decision. Press OK to continue. After clearing both, Press OK to save changes and Exit.
- Restart Steam after ending all processes using the task manager.
Check if the Steam client running slow issue still occurs.
Try clearing the download cache
There’s a possibility that the problem is caused by too much data stored in the download cache of Steam. To check if this is what’s causing the problem you will need to clear out this cache.
- Open the Steam client by right clicking on it and selecting the option Run as Administrator.
- Click on the tab of Steam present at the top left corner of the screen. From the drop-down box, click on Settings.
- Go to the Downloads tab present at the left side of the window.
- You will see the option Clear Download Cache present at the near bottom of the screen. Click it. Now Steam will ask you to confirm your action. Press OK and wait until the process is completed.Save changes and Exit the client.
- Restart Steam after ending all Steam related processes using the task manager.
Check if the Steam client running slow issue still occurs.
Disable the proxy connection
A proxy connection usually has several benefits such as web anonymity and improved internet speeds among others however having this active in your computer can sometimes affect the way Steam works. If you are using a proxy connection then you should try to disable it first.
From Chrome
- Open Chrome browser and click on the Chrome menu (top right).
- Click on Settings.
- Type “proxy” in the search dialogue bar present on the top.
- From search results, select the result which says “open proxy settings”.
- Click on “LAN Settings” in the Connections tab, present in the bottom.
- Check the line which says “Automatically detect settings”. And uncheck the line which says “Use a proxy server for your LAN”.
- Save changes and exit.
- Restart Steam.
From the network settings
- Press Windows + R button to bring up the Run application.
- In the dialogue box, type “inetcpl.cpl”.
- Go to the Connections tab and click on LAN settings.
- Check the line which says “Automatically detect settings”. And uncheck the line which says “Use a proxy server for your LAN”.
- Save changes and exit
- Restart Steam.
Check if the Steam client running slow issue still occurs.
Run Steam as an administrator
Steam usually performs several read and write operations on the computer hard drive and sometimes this operation will require administrative privileges. If Steam does not have this privilege then it’s likely that this particular problem can occur.
- Go to the directory where Steam is installed. The default location is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam.
- Look for an exe file named as “Steam.exe”. This is the main Steam launcher. Right click on it and select Properties from the list of options. Select the Compatibility tab from the top of the screen. At the bottom of the small window, you will see a checkbox which says “Run this program as administrator”. Make sure it is checked. Save changes and exit.
- Look for an exe file named as “GameOverlayUI.exe”. Right click on it and select Properties from the list of options. Select the Compatibility tab from the top of the screen. At the bottom of the small window, you will see a checkbox which says “Run this program as administrator”. Make sure it is checked. Save changes and exit.
- Open your Steam directory. The default location for Steam is (C:\Program Files\Steam).
- Right click on the Steam folder and select Properties. Browse to the Security tab and click on Advanced found at the bottom of the screen.
- Click on the first row and click the button Edit. A window will come forward consisting of all the options in form of check boxes. Check all of them including Full Control. Click Apply, save Changes, and Exit. Do this for the first 4 rows and exit after changing.
- Restart Steam by clicking Steam.exe.
Check if the Steam client running slow issue still occurs.
Repair Steam
Sometimes refreshing the Steam files can fix this problem. You can refresh the the files using the run application.
- Press Windows + to bring up the Run application.
- In the dialogue box, type the address of your Steam directory, followed by bin, then the exe and finally followed by a space and a “/repair”.
- If Steam is installed in the default location then the command will look like this C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\SteamService.exe /repair.
- A command prompt will launch and the repair process will start.
- Launch Steam.
Check if the Steam client running slow issue still occurs.
Verify the game file integrity
There’s a possibility that a corrupt game data can cause this problem. To eliminate this possibility you will have to verify the game file integrity.
- Open the Steam client and click Library present on the top.
- Select the game in which Steam overlay fails to open.
- Right-click on the game which is giving you the error and select Properties.
- Go to the Local Files tab and click on the option which says Verify Integrity of Game Files.
- Steam will then start verifying all the files present.If there is any file missing/corrupted, it will download that files again and replace it accordingly.
- Go to your Settings by pressing the Settings option after clicking Steam present in the bottom left corner of the screen.
- Open the Downloads tab present at the left side of the interface.
- Click on the “Steam Library Folders”.
- All your steam content information will be listed. Right-click on it and select “Repair Library Files”.
- Restart Steam.
Check if the Steam client running slow issue still occurs.
Delete then reinstall Steam
One last troubleshooting step that you can do if the above steps fail is to uninstall then reinstall the Steam client.
- Go to your Steam directory and look for the Steam.exe file, Userdata folder and the SteamApps folder
- Delete all files in the Steam directory except for the ones mentioned above.
- Restart your computer then run the Steam client as an administrator.
- Wait for Steam to finish downloading the missing files.
Check if the Steam not opening issue still occurs.