

With over a decade of writing experience in the field of technology, Chris has written for a variety of publications including The New York Times, Reader's Digest, IDG's PCWorld, Digital Trends, and MakeUseOf. Chris has personally written over 2,000 articles that have been read more than one billion times-and that's just here at How-To Geek. Or switch to a different antivirus with game optimization features.Chris Hoffman is the former Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek. If your antivirus doesn't have this feature, try adding the Steam client and games to the exclusion list.Īlternatively, you can also temporarily disable your antivirus before your gaming session. It can also falsely detect a game or outgoing connection as malicious and block the access or delete the file.Ĭheck if your antivirus has the Game Mode feature and enable it to reduce antivirus intrusion during gaming.

Third-party antivirus programs can interfere with Steam games and prevent them from launching. If it works outside the VPN, configure the Steam client and your game traffic to allow it through the network. To determine the cause, temporarily disable your VPN client and restart the game. If you have an active VPN (virtual private network) client running, it can affect games that require internet connectivity. Here are a few options to prevent third-party programs from affecting Steam games in Windows. Third-party game overlays, antivirus tools, firewall configuration, and other issues can also prevent Steam games from opening.
