Have you just bought the all-hyped-up latest game and started downloading but all your excitement went down the gutter looking at the download speeds? We’ve all been there buddy, personally as well, I’ve been there. But the solution to this problem is pretty simple. Here in this article, we will tell you how to boost up your Steam downloads, while being simple and quick.
Steam is the most famous digital videogames store on PC. It’s not just a digital videogames store as it might seem to your eye, it also acts as a digital rights management(DRM) platform, anti-cheat engine, matchmaker, social networking, and streaming service. Steam has always been this versatile, reason why it’s so famous and reliable. Steam also enables automatic updates for installed games, in-game chat with friends, the ability to join communities, and allows cloud backups for game save data. Steam has literally been a boon to PC gaming. Steam was initially launched in September of 2003 to integrate with Valve’s games, who are the developers of Steam itself. Until late 2005 Steam was only exclusive to Valve, only later did they open themselves for third-party publishers and developers, and that was when it actually started creating an impact.
Why steam download speeds are slow?
See, this is not something that happens often. Steam is supposed to download the games at a speed that is the same as the speed offered by your internet service provider(ISP). But when it happens, it can happen when the problem’s on their side or our side, like a slow server on their end or low bandwidth, corrupted cache, etc from our end. Don’t worry we’ll help you fix this issue.
Fix 1 Clear download cache:
Every time you make a download, steam stores cached data of it, it usually gets deleted from time to time, in this instance, it might not have been cleared. We’ll tell you now exactly how to do it:
- Open the Steam launcher.
- On the extreme top left, click Steam.
- Click Settings.
- On your left, click on Downloads.
- Select clear download cache and hit enter.
- Re-login into your account after it’s done.
Once this process is done, check if your download speeds are back to normal.
Fix 2 Uncheck bandwidth limit:
Steam has the option to limit your bandwidth. It can be used whenever the user wants to. Limiting bandwidth will lower your download speeds. Sometimes it might be turned on by default or can also be a glitch, let’s see how to turn it off if it is turned on.
- Open Steam launcher.
- On the extreme top left, click Steam.
- Click Settings.
- On your left, click on Downloads.
- in the window, you will find the download restrictions sub-menu, in it, uncheck the limit bandwidth box.
Now check if your download speeds are back to normal.
Fix 3 Change download region:
You can actually change the download region on Steam, convenient, isn’t it? Download region in the sense, that you can manually set which server to download from. Steam will usually automatically select a download server based on your current location, but it can be faulty at times. We’ll see how to do it:
- Open Steam launcher.
- On the extreme top left, click Steam.
- Click Settings.
- On your left, click on Downloads.
- Now you can see a sub-menu saying download region, change the region to closest to your location.
Choose the closest server because it should give you the lowest latency, resulting in better speeds. Try a few servers before you find the right one.
Fix 4 Disable VPN/proxy:
In most cases, a VPN or a proxy slows up your connection, generally. Yes, you are protected and still remain private, but at the cost of your network speed. So it is highly recommended that you disable your VPN/proxy whilst downloading games from Steam. This is only a temporary fix. If you still want to use a VPN and have the full speed of your connection, you better get a premium VPN service, there are many premium VPN providers out there, to name a few, Nord VPN, Express VPN, Surf Shark VPN, Tunnel Bear VPN, etc. These premium VPNs are worth your money and they also don’t slow down your connection speeds, at least not as significant as other free VPNs do.
Fix 5 Lower disk usage:
Downloading games from steam is moderately resource-consuming, as the games download in patches, installs in patches, and verifies at the same time. This can be especially stressful on your disk when it is a mechanical Hard Disk Drive(HDD). This process is essential for us, instead what you can do is, end other unnecessary tasks in the background. You can do so by opening Task Manager, by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc. Once the task manager window pops up you can simply right-click and select end task on any program that you might find unnecessary at that moment.
Fix 6 disable your firewall/antivirus:
In some cases, it might be the fault of the firewall of your windows to blame. Or even your anti-virus software. They can be interfering with your downloads, hence slowing them up. What you can do is temporarily disable them. But you must turn them on once the download is complete. Most users won’t find this fix helpful as it might not be the one that is causing the issue, but we have to try every possible fix before we give up.
Fix 7 re-install Steam:
If none of the above-mentioned solutions have worked, I’m afraid that maybe you have completely re-install your Steam launcher. Don’t worry it’s not that big a deal as you can backup your games. Before deleting Steam you can simply backup whichever game you want. To do so:
- Open Steam Launcher.
- On the top left corner, select Steam.
- Select backup and restore games.
- Select backup currently installed programs.
- Select the programs you want to back up.
- Choose a location on your computer to back up them.
- Uninstall the Steam launcher completely.
- Install the latest available version from their official website.
- Once you have installed it and logged back into the same menu as previously you can find restore games.
- Select the location you have previously stored the programs.
You can get the latest version of Steam Launcher on your PC from their official webpage, here’s the direct link https://store.steampowered.com/about/
Conclusion:
These are 7 simple and straightforward ways to fix slow download speeds on Steam. I hope we’ve been of help to you, If weren’t been of help to you, we’re sorry. We suggest you visit Steam’s official support page and contact them for further assistance, here’s the direct link, https://help.steampowered.com.
If you have any other issues regarding any other game, PC software related, or any issues at all, please feel free to let us know via our Facebook or Twitter pages. If you have any other feedback, you also reach us at the above-mentioned platforms. We would love to interact with our readers! Happy Gaming!
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