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How to Stop Steam From Losing a Connection

Steam, the massive online gaming platform, is known for being down from time to time. Sometimes, Steam goes down for reasons beyond your control -- scheduled or unscheduled maintenance on the server side -- but often you can tweak your computer or router settings in order to make Steam work as efficiently, and with as little downtime, as possible.

Use Local Servers
- Steam comprises a network of hundreds and thousands of servers in each country. When downloading content for a game or connecting to a network for multiplayer gaming, Steam reaches out to a selected server, which the software chooses automatically. By manually managing the download region, you can speed up connections. Click on ̶0;Settings̶1; and choose ̶0;Downloads̶1; within Steam, and then click on the region that is physically closest to where you live under ̶0;Download region.̶1;
Firewall
- Windows̵7; built-in firewall can interfere with Steam and cause connection issues, which can disconnect you from servers intermittently. Click in the top right-hand corner of Windows and then click on the "Search" charm, then type ̶0;Firewall̶1; into the search box. Click ̶0;Firewall̶1; under Control Panel and then click on ̶0;Inbound rules̶1; and choose ̶0;New Rule.̶1; Click ̶0;Browse̶1; and browse to the Steam folder, then click ̶0;OK.̶1; Do the same for ̶0;Outbound rules̶1; to allow Steam and its processes through the firewall. These steps only apply to the Windows Firewall and may differ for other firewall programs.
Close Conflicting Programs
- Steam is aware of a few dozen programs, especially anti-virus programs, that cause connection issues. It may be necessary to temporarily disable your anti-virus software while playing a Steam game. Additionally, Steam lists a few dozen applications that have been known to interfere with Steam, including common applications like Skype, Airfoil, Google Toolbar and Western Digital Backup Anywhere. For a full list of potentially conflicting applications, see References.
Router
- Steam recommends opening a few ports specifically on your router to ensure the best experience with Steam. Open a browser window and type ̶0;192.168.1.1̶1; into your address bar, then enter your router̵7;s administrator password and username -- you can find this in its documentation or with a quick search. Click on ̶0;Applications and Gaming̶1; or ̶0;Port forwarding̶1; and then open UDP ports between 27000 and 27030 in addition to UDP port 4380. Also open TCP 27014 through 27050, which are used exclusively for downloads. Some games may have specific required ports too, so check each game̵7;s documentation if connection problems persist.

Online Games