Insane memory usage Steam Client Webhelper

[King Popo Donald Trump]

t's bad, now Steam client webhelper is using 600mb of my ram and there's no way to stop it. I tried hard stopping using task manager and then it pops up again. Also I changed it so Steam doesn't start when I start up my computer. Also under library I changed the settings to low memory usage. Still in idle, Steam is using 650mb of memory. I have plenty of memory (32 gb) and an i7 with GTX 1660s. The only time I ever had anything use that much memory is with the antivirus BitDefender.

Anyways, if anyone else is seeing this problem where Steam is hogging up tons of memory just idilng, post below.

[MonkehMaster]

Origineel geplaatst door svenoss:

I was wondering if people who experiment this issue are using a firewall ? Personnaly I use simplewall. But still have no clue if it's related.

of course a firewalll has nothing to do with a steam memory leak.

[svenoss]

There must be something we have in commun causing this issue. For me dwm.exe svchost.exe and explorer.exe are impacted by the rise in memory consumption of webhelper, sometimes the "firewall" and riva encoder is impacted as well, but other programs and services seems unaffected.

Nice to hear someone is using Simplewall but it's not a firewall or a front end for a firewall, just an fyi.

you are right, just some ruleset with an UI, but it's lightweight and does the job.
Is sandboxie lightweight as well?

[plat]

Origineel geplaatst door svenoss:

I was wondering if people who experiment this issue are using a firewall ? Personnaly I use simplewall. But still have no clue if it's related.

Nice to hear someone is using Simplewall but it's not a firewall or a front end for a firewall, just an fyi. I run Sandboxie and it likewise can avail itself of WFP if that's enabled.

I don't know what it could be either and I'm def. not inclined to start switching stuff off and off and then waiting if anything like a leak happens. If Valve sees the problem and/or gets a lot of the same complaints, it'll get fixed eventually.

It's ironic: just now I applied an update to one of my security programs and the UI totally froze. One other person had reported the same but another did not experience it. Does this mean I'm the one who's wrong? (Hint...no it does not).

[N3tRunn3r]

Origineel geplaatst door svenoss:

There must be something we have in commun causing this issue. For me dwm.exe svchost.exe and explorer.exe are impacted by the rise in memory consumption of webhelper, ..

Many Windows users complain in official Microsoft Feedback-Hub about the rise in memory of the "dwm.exe". So it might be a Windows' fault. You need to force-exit its process a few times "in a row", so it would stick at 60-120 MB as being regular.

I had this dwm.exe memory issues on a daily basis some weeks and months ago and gladly it stopped to eat up RAM for a few weeks yet, whenever I had Windows Update chosen an older Intel driver (Jun 2021) for my integrated iGPU instead installing a latest driver (Dec 2023) and to manually change iGPU certificates to the more recent one, so my system gonna stick on it without being overwritten by Windows Update again.

svchost and explorer are fine here, no issues on me.

Honestly I havent checked and tested this issue yet if the dwm.exe process and issue is connected with the Steam Webhelper process. But I can tell by my experiences, when I had force-closed the dwm process and have even restarted my machine without launching Steam, the dwm.exe process still had been at 1~2 GB RAM usage which has caused a really slow response of the mouse cursor and programs!! So Steam probably wasnt at fault here.

So not even a restart of the machine did fix it, but force-closing the dwm.exe process "a few times in a row", to kill it multiple times.. and to let Windows Update choose the "correct" iGPU Intel drivers. The dwm.exe sticks around 120 MB since then, which is fine.. If you see this process is reaching and accumulating memory and is about 600+ MB again, your system becomes unstable and you need correct iGPU drivers, even older ones selected by Windows.

There a lot of these complaints throughout many topics:

Official Micrososft Feedback-Hub
Windows 11 - DWM Consuming Too Much Memory

https://aka.ms/AAd833n

[Msooby]

this is why videogame clients in general are a bad thing, its okay to have online browser and store but needing launcher to use them is just uncalled for

steamwebhelper uses even more memory than the games themselves

[Zefar]

Origineel geplaatst door Elfezen:

this is why videogame clients in general are a bad thing, its okay to have online browser but needing launcher to use them is just uncalled for

steamwebhelper uses even more memory than the games themselves

Only if you're playing those Indie pixelart games that are pure minimalism.

Run any half modern game and they will take several times more than what Steam does.

Also as long as you got RAM to spare it won't matter. It will only be an issue if you run out of RAM and if you just have 16 GB you won't really run out.
8 GB? Maybe but that's more of the game taking up more than what Steam does.

Not to mention most people probably run their internet browser in the background and that will use up far more than Steam.

[kitt]

Origineel geplaatst door kitty:

Origineel geplaatst door Elfezen:

this is why videogame clients in general are a bad thing, its okay to have online browser and store but needing launcher to use them is just uncalled for

steamwebhelper uses even more memory than the games themselves

That's only if you just "Install steam and try to play games" without touching anything in the steam client. You need to go in the settings and disable a lot of things if you want steam to stop using tons of ram. Also: Don't let your steam client run for more than 24 hours without restarting it. That's very bad too.

https://dai.ly/k5LmJIMKjbbtVNzTyAP

where is your God now

[Tesityr]

Please optimize/fix Steam and the memory usage issues.

Thank you.

[Yammo]

Origineel geplaatst door kitty:

Origineel geplaatst door N3tRunn3r:

Just checking again, Steamwebhelper currently uses 5.68 GB !!!

! ! ! 5.68 GB ! ! !

while we speak, it has just increased to 6.12 GB !!

! ! ! 6.12 GB ! ! !

https://imgur.com/a/UtYLNuv

+ 500 MB just by opening this thread to post a latest status about this issue..

Edit:
Steam Client Webhelper is back to ~655 MB after restarting Steam..

Learn how to configure your client properly. Instructions have been provided for you in this thread already multiple times, go back and read. You didn't configure the client correctly so this is happening. If you go configure it correctly then this won't happen.

I know you're just clown-farming, but I just couldn't resist.

How about pinpointing EXACTLY which setting causes 6 GIGABYTES of RAM to be used, rather than being part of the toxic clique of Steam forums?

[Yammo]

Origineel geplaatst door kitty:

Origineel geplaatst door Yammo:

I know you're just clown-farming, but I just couldn't resist.

Your comment is insulting and very rude. I'm actually trying to help people get steam's ram usage under control here, not "Farming" anything.

Origineel geplaatst door Yammo:

How about pinpointing EXACTLY which setting causes 6 GIGABYTES of RAM to be used, rather than being part of the toxic clique of Steam forums?

That's not necessary: Just go through the steam client settings and disable everything that can be turned off that isn't required to manage our games in steam and the ram usage goes down. It's simple.

Did that - didn't help.
Your comment is void.

[Yammo]

Origineel geplaatst door kitty:

Origineel geplaatst door Yammo:

Did that - didn't help.
Your comment is void.

Then you didn't disable enough settings. Try again. I've done this in 3 different operating systems on 6 different computers and it totally does exactly what I said for everyone. If it's not doing it for you then you're not turning everything off.

Do note though that the steam client using 500 <-> 700 MB is normal. You're not going to reduce it below that.

Did that - didn't help.
Your comment is void.

[Yammo]

Origineel geplaatst door kitty:

Origineel geplaatst door Yammo:

Did that - didn't help.
Your comment is void.

Nope. If you configure the steam client correctly (and use it correctly) it will always be < 1 GB of ram usage at all times. If you want the steam client to use less ram then you have to use it differently and configure it correctly.

Also: You can't decide someone else's comment online is "void". You don't get to determine that.

I don't get to decide if something was helpful to me, or not?
Ohh... ok. Thanks.
You better run off to the UK police and report a hate-crime incident, then - don't you?

[kitt]

Origineel geplaatst door kitty:

Origineel geplaatst door kitt:

https://dai.ly/k5LmJIMKjbbtVNzTyAP

where is your God now

There's a lot of settings you didn't show us or look at:

Broadcasting? Remote play? Voice chat in Steam? Family view?

All of those can cause extra ram usage and you didn't even look at them in your video.

Try turning off all of those then try again.

and now explain how it changes from one day to the other without changing any settings on Steam or anywhere else.
Valve is known to put crap into the "stable" version without telling anyone.


https://dai.ly/k4gtVSaH6hIgiwzUI6E restarted before that.. whats your excuse now? close to 2GB of ram just for starting Steam, settings don't do jack. And don't even suggest that "Life is pointless" is the issue now, Steam Overlay is disabled and the game is using 50mb RAM


Nor am I connected to the friendslist


$$$ much heh?

[Yammo]

Origineel geplaatst door kitt:

Origineel geplaatst door kitty:

There's a lot of settings you didn't show us or look at:

Broadcasting? Remote play? Voice chat in Steam? Family view?

All of those can cause extra ram usage and you didn't even look at them in your video.

Try turning off all of those then try again.

and now explain how it changes from one day to the other without changing any settings on Steam or anywhere else.
Valve is known to put crap into the "stable" version without telling anyone.


https://dai.ly/k4gtVSaH6hIgiwzUI6E restarted before that.. whats your excuse now? close to 2GB of ram just for starting Steam, settings don't do jack. And don't even suggest that "Life is pointless" is the issue now, Steam Overlay is disabled and the game is using 50mb RAM


Nor am I connected to the friendslist


$$$ much heh?

it would likely say "look at the settings".... "again".... because a problem doesn't occur to it - the problem could absolutely not happen to ANYONE else - ever. :D

[lsdninja]

Origineel geplaatst door kitt:

https://dai.ly/k4gtVSaH6hIgiwzUI6E restarted before that.. whats your excuse now? close to 2GB of ram just for starting Steam, settings don't do jack. And don't even suggest that "Life is pointless" is the issue now, Steam Overlay is disabled and the game is using 50mb RAM

What's hilarious about this issue is that all the stuff you did to demonstrate in that video will contribute to the RAM usage going up, it's ridiculous.