How to stop Steam complaining about LavasoftTCPService.dll on startup?

I'm getting this message whenever I start Steam:

An incompatible version of LavasoftTCPService.dll (related to Lavasoft Web Companion) has been detected inside of the Steam process.

We suggest updating or uninstalling this software if you experience crashes or network slowdowns while running Steam or individual games.

I tried the method of 'refreshing' Steam by deleting everything from the Steam directory except /steamapps and the Steam.exe, but the error message persisted.

What does it mean? How can I stop this message from appearing every time I start Steam?

Solution 1:

This may be caused by a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP), Adware or other similar program which makes use of the LavasoftTCPService.dll.

You may be able to resolve the error by uninstalling any unwanted or suspicious applications on your PC. However in my case that didn't help.

I found a page on the Steam Forums about conflicting software and one of the suggestions was to download and run MalwareBytes AdwCleaner. This will scan your PC for PUPs, Browser Hijackers and other forms of Malware and Adware. When the scan completes it may show a list of items it thinks are unwanted or outright malware, and give you the option to remove them.

Once the PUPs are removed, AdwCleaner will prompt you to reboot your PC. When it restarts, try starting Steam.

This solved the issue for me.