Why is my Steam Client acting so slow?

The fix I've found is to Clear the Steam application's Web Browser Cache.

I had this issue for a very long time. A previous workaround was to opt in to (or out of) the Steam client Beta. Only recently did I figure out the more targeted fix of clearing the cache.

Take note, this process and the fix I'm using may not work for everyone - and the batch script I made applies to Windows only. This is certainly adaptable to other systems, though I've never had this issue on macOS or Linux.

Manual in-app temporary fix

This will help confirm whether or not this is the cause of the slowness. It does of course require some patience:

• From the tray icon: Right-click -> Settings; OR in the main client window menus: Steam -> Settings
• In the Settings window that pops up, choose "Web Browser", usually toward the bottom left.
• On that page, click the [ DELETE WEB BROWSER CACHE ] button.

The automated workaround:

For my desktop, I have replaced Steam's autostart with a task-scheduled batch script for two reasons:

• The script clears the cache before launching Steam (this problem)
• Task Scheduler allows you to delay tasks until after Network is operational (less chance of network/logon issues)

Script content. Notes below:

@echo off
TITLE CLEAR STEAM WEB CACHE BEFORE LAUNCHING
rmdir /s /q "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Steam\htmlcache"
mkdir "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Steam\htmlcache"

start C:\Steam\Steam.exe -nobigpicture

• You can adjust the path appropriately depending on where Steam is installed
• Other answers and articles mention other System paths - but I have confirmed via Process Monitor (from SysInternals) that the path I'm deleting is the only one that Steam itself clears. If someone has evidence otherwise, please let me know so I can add paths as appropriate.
• I launch with the -nobigpicture parameter because, without it, Steam sometimes launches in "Big Picture" mode just because I have a controller attached. This parameter is optional.

Note that I have given up on finding a "proper" fix for this bug. Rather than clearing out the cache I now use a ramdisk for the affected folders.

In case these clues help another person trying to figure it out, best I can tell this is a bug in the browser back-end:

• There is no obvious reason for the slowness. There is no CPU spike. There is no network latency. There is no disk I/O.
• The browser backend (steamwebhelper.exe) is CEF (Chrome Embedded Framework), a sub-project of the Chromium Project.
• When clearing the cache, rather than just immediately clearing the cache, steamwebhelper.exe is restarted as well.

I don't know if this is still an open question, but here's a sloution that worked for me:

Go into control panel>internet options>connections tab>LAN options and untick "detect settings automatically"

restart steam client.

Good luck.

I found this solution from a Steam community link and it seems to have worked for me

In the Steam window: Steam > settings > interface > enable hardware decoding if supported

This was flagged OFF for me. I turned it ON, Steam restarted and the interface is fine again. After that I turned it OFF again, Steam restarted and the interface is still fine!

So at least by enabling this flag, it triggered Steam to rescan a setting and adjust it.

Seeing the wide variety of solutions I'm wondering what the cause of the problem is. In my case, I haven't changed my GPU, unlike what the OP in the forum link says.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/617328967241578199/