How your Steam client was secretly downloading over 600MB an hour

Although the issue has since been resolved, many users reported lag spikes and irregular data consumption due to a Steam Store glitch

The Steam Store’s featured page used a 15-second auto-refresh that downloaded 2.77MB every time the page updated.

The glitch, which was discovered Reddit user NiscoRacing, continued to persist even when the Steam client was minimised or when users were playing a game.

2.77MB every 15 seconds adds up pretty quickly, especially if you have a limited cap or slower line speeds.

Below is the amount of data gamers could have consumed simply by having the Steam Store open:

1 minute = 11.08MB
10 minutes = 110.8MB
30 minutes = 332.4MB
1 Hour = 664.8MB

As a result of the additional usage, PC gamers reported an increase in lag spikes while playing games, as well as increased warnings of data caps being hit.

Steam has since resolved the issue, and you should now be able to keep your Steam Store page open without constantly re-downloading data.

Did Steam appear to use more of your data than usual? Let us know in the comments below and in our forums.