Steam client running very slowly

[Lycramosa]

The Steam client (desktop) has started to run very, very slowly in the past week. I've tried restarting my computer, clearing cache, cookies, and download data from the client and nothing has worked.

[d3adf1sh]

do you use an ssd? if not you should download "defraggler" and run a defrag because the built in windows one is trash. I would also check what programs are starting up with your computer. which can be checked through task manager. have you installed any new programs recently? you can also look through your background services by hitting the windows key and typing "services.msc" without the quotes. sometimes programs will have background services running you don't need and can disable or at least change to manual start. other than that, maybe uninstall reinstall steam but i couldn't even tell you the last time i've had to do that. but steam always lags a little when you click on stuff, just the way it is. let me know if it helps.

[Phantom]

This is pretty rough to troubleshoot.

If it's not OS related, it's definitely hardware related.

You should pay attention and see if other programs or games even, exhibit this behavior.

[Lycramosa]

I use a HDD and had been using the Windows defrag. I'll try another one. I've checked the start up programs and services. Some games and Windows pages also lag, but I've already deleted all the temporary files and such. :/ Not sure why this all just happened suddenly.

[d3adf1sh]

well make sure your drive has got like i can't remember if it's like 20% free space or maybe 15% but if you HAVE to use windows defrag, run it from command prompt. and "run as administrator" and if you want to defrag c drive you would type "defrag c: -w" that is the only way to get a full defrag with windows built in defragmenter becuase if you don't use the -w switch it won't defrag fragments larger than 64m and won't consolidate files like it use to do on XP. so you could give that a shot if don't want to download any new programs but defraggler is a good program, it's made by the same people that make ccleaner.

also you may want to look into a used ssd. you can find used Crucial or Micron M550 or M600's for sometimes like $25 for 256GB or like $40 for the 512's or 480's and those are the ones from when they were still using MLC nand which is better quality than the TLC and QLC (puke) stuff they use now. bout as fast as you're gonna get for a sata drive. i've got a 128GB is use for my OS and a 512 i use for games and keep all my music and movies on my HDD, but basically you really don't need to spend a lot of money just to get an ssd.

[d3adf1sh]

may want to do virus scan too. (eset and malwarebytes are the best imo) just hope your HDD isn't going bad or anything. not sure if you could check it with something like western digital's data lifeguard diagnostics program?

[Lycramosa]

Thanks, Ill look into getting a SSD. I did get defragler and its been going all night lol. I have McAfee for virus protection.