[EDIT] Issue has been fixed by whitelisting the steamapps folder in Windows Defender!

Hey guys,

first off: Please go ahead and choose a game up to 5 bucks in the Humble Store. Since I have a really important issue and want to give something back, post the game you want to be given away by me!

So, to the issue at hand: Whenever I download a big game like Warhammer: End Times, Elder Scrolls Online or Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, my PC is being slowed down. But not only that, my PC freezes and eventually needs to be restarted if I don't feel like waiting 5+ minutes for it to get a hold of itself.

I've tried multiple clients to recreated this issue like EA Origin, the GOG client, uTorrent.. but they all work just fine. I've did RAM and HDD tests anyways but they're all healthy.

Also, I've deleted everything in my Steam folder except for /userdata/ and /steamapps/ as well as the Steam executable to redownload everything. Didn't do any good however. Of course I also ran malware and virus detection software but they didn't find any issues as well.

So you guys are my last hope. Is there a an entry in the registry which corrupts something, ending in this situation? Or maybe Steam just sucks donkey balls?

Whatever the case, I am looking forward to any input which could help me resolve the issue!

My specs:

Intel i7 6700 (Meltdown & Spectre patch already applied)
16 GB DDR4 RAM
256 GB SSD, which Steam is installed on
NVIDIA GTX980
Windows 10 x64 Home Edition

Also, I don't have any demanding applications in my autostart.

Thanks in advance guys!

6 years ago*

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Are all drivers up to date? How about the BIOS? This could be a kernel driver (not necessarily the network card, but that's one option) not keeping up with things/leaking resources until it keels over and takes the machine with it. Is there anything relevant in the event viewer for the system log when the machine freezes up?

Also, if you have any of those crappy third-party software firewalls that sometimes come with AV, take a hard look at that before anything else. (I expect you don't because it would be obvious, but hey.)

6 years ago*
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Yep, just installed everything which was available. Also deactivated certain Tools for testing purposes (Like Geforce Experience).

The event viewer however is a good start. It shows an error which after googeling could be resolved by deactivating Intel LPM apparently. Will try this, thanks!

6 years ago
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This did nothing.

6 years ago
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Seems like you ain't the only one with this problem, after a bit of Google skills put to use I found A bunch of other people complaining about something similar. You sure there's no conflicting background tasks running? Maybe try to throttle the DL speed inside the Steam client (dunno if that would serve a purpose tbh, but I saw someone mentioning it), hmm... anything worth your attention in the event viewer? Otherwise I have no idea since you already did everything else that would come to mind right now, sorry.

6 years ago
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Throttling the DL speed did nothing unfortunately. Also, I tend to leave it at full speed now so it can download with 25-30 MB/s to get it over with. Thanks anyways!

6 years ago
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Okay, dumb question, but you're not on the Steam client beta, are you ;>? Only other thing I found is this, might be worth a try before you go fully postal :s... good luck!

6 years ago
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I already tried that, yes. And I'm not on the beta. But I resolved the issue by whitelisting the steamapps folder in Windows Defender :)

6 years ago
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Do you have an antivirus software running at background? Not sure if it's related but on my computer Bitdefender caused Steam to crash while updating a few times.

6 years ago
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I do but it's only Windows Defender which never caused any issues.

6 years ago
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This! Steam downloading causes antivirus software to eat cpu cycles.

6 years ago
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I LOVE YOU!
I whitelisted the steamapps folder in Windows Defender and ever since my system is stable again!

6 years ago
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Damn, that's... really boring.

I'm glad your problem's been fixed, though. :-)

6 years ago
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6 years ago
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Ever since I lost a motherboard, my answer's been "antivirus", though. (Even though viruses that flash your BIOS beyond repair have gone the way of the dodo -- the antivirus is a known evil.)

6 years ago
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YAY! Glad I could help ^_^

6 years ago
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6 years ago
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Hmm why would I uninstall this critical update? Also, the issue was present before I installed it so I guess it doesn't conflict with my system.

6 years ago
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Unless your system is completely unbootable, there should be no need to revert. If there's any trouble post boot, the Meltdown and Spectre mitigations have registry settings to turn them off. See KB 4072698 for details. (It talks specifically about servers, but I'm pretty sure the flags to override the mitigation code work on client machines as well.)

6 years ago
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Guys, my issue has been fixed! Thanks!

Now go ahead and post the game you'd like to be given away!

6 years ago
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6 years ago
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It's weird since Win 10 is the best Windows yet. And it worked perfectly fine until now. But still, Valve is to blame as other distributors of digital goods do just fine w/o whitelisting anything.

6 years ago
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Dex is only $2 at the moment on Humble, so maybe that one? I kinda wish there was an option to sort games by current price instead of just discounts, as there may be an even better deal I haven't seen yet.

EDIT: I think I'll keep Dex as my current choice, but I'll update the list with more deals that caught my attention:

  • Titan Quest: Anniversary Edition - $4
  • Stealth Bastard Deluxe - $2
  • Stealth Inc 2 - $3
  • Fenix Rage - $3
  • Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - $3
  • Bleed - $1
  • Victor Vran - $5
  • Neon Chrome - $4

EDIT 2: If everyone ends up voting for different games, but one of them happens to be on my list (or if there's a tie between a game on my list and another title), would you be willing to let me change my vote to said game so that it gets majority vote?

6 years ago*
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+1 vote for Dex. Also one vote Amnesia: Memories.

6 years ago*
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I'd vote for Titan Quest! Apperantly it is a great game and only 4 euros. If that was on sale for that price on steam i would have bought it right now.

6 years ago
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Nice that you fixed your problem :)

My choice would be this one :)
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/hyperdevotion-noire-goddess-black-heart

6 years ago
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