Ultimate solution updated below!
Starting up your Steam client, and you see that there is some auto update upon launching, but it doesn’t seems right as the update progress seems to be EXTREMELY slow and stuck at certain percentage (or proceed at the very slow rate even the internet connection seems fine) – most likely you are not going to have your Steam client updated anytime soon. The culprit (highly possible) is the incorrect and slow server chosen by the client for update and hence the ridiculous slow downloading.
If you have the similar issue, you can try this solution and see if it helps (you might have to do this for a couple of times before the download speed back to the usual one, for my case, I did about 10 times):
1. Navigate to your steam installation folder (most likely it’s in C:\Program Files\Steam), and look for a file called ClientRegistry.blob
2. Shut down the running client which is updating at snail speed (Cancel the updates).
3. Either rename it (eg. ClientRegistry.blob_old) or delete it straightaway.
4. Restart the Steam client and the update will be restarted. If the right server is picked up by the client and your internet connection is fine, you will notice the update being downloaded at a nice speed.
Hope this solution help you from the frustration of slow Steam client update. A little bit of searching in the Steam forum shows that there are also some other possible reasons that causing this, but most of the time using the solution above will solve the issue. Good luck and happy gaming!
Update 1: Once again, I am having the same issue next restart. A couple of times of deleting the file doesn’t help much, always stalled at certain percentage. Then, I just try my luck to enable the Steam client to access my network through Windows Firewall in both connection types (Home/Work and Public), Voila, the update smoother than butter after that.
Update 2: Another similar issue happened to me after the next restart. Windows Firewall exception doesn’t do the job this time, and finally I decided to restart my modem router to get a new IP from my ISP – Everything solved. Probably my previous IP doesn’t like the Steam client, or vice versa. Anyhow, if you have an ISP that provide you dynamic IPs, try to get another IP address, most probably it will solve your Steam update issue.
Ultimate Solution: This should work for anyone. The main problem of this update issue is due to the slow download from bad steam server. Therefore changing the connection to good steam update server is the solution for this.
How to do this? Download TCPView application, then run the application while the Steam updating. In the TCPView, look for Steam.exe, right click on it and choose Close Connection. Check the update dialog to see if the update speed increases. If it’s not, close connection again. Do it for a few times (I tried doing it around 15 times) to get the good update server and Steam will be updated!
Do share your experience on how you solve the problem to everyone via comment below, thanks!
Techie Talkz 
Worked great – Thank you!
Thanks for your post…i want to subscribe by mail to this site…but how..?
i am having this issue, just trying to restart after deleting the client.blob thingy… so far still slow… i have rebooted my modem afew times already with no affect… my steam has been running slow for 6 months now started around Nov 2010, its nearly april 2011 now…. steam used to be lighting fast for me upuntil about 6 months ago…
Hi,
Is your ISP providing you a static IP for internet access? If that’s the case, it won’t help by just rebooting the modem, a change in IP is needed, or consult with your ISP.
Rgds,
Taylor
Thank you so much, I thought I was screwed completely.
Hi,
No problem! Glad you have your problem solved. 🙂
Rgds,
Taylor
Thanks Taylor. Much more helpful than any of the forums I saw.
u r greatest ..! thankxx mann !!
I had the same problem, but have no way of changing my IP address.
I fixed it by killing Steam’s TCP connections using TCPView from the microsoft/sysinternals website. Steam then tries different servers, so you can keep doing this until you find a fast one.
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for the tips! I never thought of this solution, perhaps I can try this when I have the same issue again. Will include this to the post.
Thanks again!
Rgds,
Taylor
thanks… it’s work for me… but have to try several time… min almost 10times… thanks anyway.. 🙂
TCPView did the trick for me, thanks for help!
This was by far the best advice and the easiest one as well…. Keep closing the connection till you find a good server…..
works !!!! mine was stuck at 60 but after doing what you said it works!!!!! thank you veru much and sorry for the bad english…YOU ARE THE BEST 😀
Somehow I do not follow situation if Steam client crashes or has been damaged, all downloaded content is uninstalled too. (happened to me yesterday). Very strange.
i’ve done everything that this article says, but i still get stuck at 26% when steam updates, ive uninstalled and reinstalled steam, deleted the ClientRegistry.blob file multiple times, reset my modem like 5 times and still, nothing. please help, 😦
Hi Daniel,
After you reset your modem, do you get a different IP address from your ISP? If you have the fixed IP, the problem won’t be solved by resetting the modem unfortunately.
Rgds,
Taylor
Ah, thanks. Update 2 works for me. 🙂
still cant works..its stuck at 89% and then i cancel the updates and start again and bump..it stuck at 28%..the download percentage decreasing -.-
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
solved!
renaming the blob worked great! thanks
WOW,,,,,,,,,,,it really works……….thanks sir…….
OMG, I waited 15 minutes to get to 1%… after your little trick the update took less then 10 seconds… One would think Steam would change the server from which it downloads on its own. Thanks for the help 🙂
nice, thanks bro
hi , i still cant solve my problem as the update still stuck
Hi,
Try my latest updated solution and see if it helps.
Rgds,
Taylor
You are the savior of poor hapless young girls who only wanted to get some games for her weekend. Thank you very much!
Thanks much, found this blog post on Google. Using TCPview to cycle through different servers helped immensely, got connected to a server in Oz that finally breezed things through. Tremendous help! Many thanks, again.
Life Saver. You Are.
Thank You! This came in very handy. Great work man.
Awesome! Killing the TCP connections does work. Thanks!
Nice! Had to do it twice, but it worked. Thanks!
It worked!!! Ugh finally. Thanks for the help man.
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG !!!!!!
IT REALLY WORKS !!!!
THX A LOT!!
TCPView works GREAT! 😀 Thanks
Appreciate it mate ..
Thanks and more power
thx the tcp app helped me
Awesome ….. Imba ….
ULTIMATE UPDATE save the day!!
TCPview worked nicely!
Now I can get my fix!
Thx for ultimate update 🙂 worked fine for me
Running the TCPView during steam update after ClientRegistry.blob has been deleted. After I close the connections (Or they close themselves once it quickly hits 26%), no new connections open. The update sits on my screen and proceeds to do nothing afterwards.
Hi,
Just re-run the Steam client again. If you can’t, force close the steam.exe in Task Manager and try again.
Rgds.
Taylor
15dec2012:
Switching steam servers by using tcpview and right click close connection is working.
Hamfisted Steam can be….
Much
Appreciated!
The TCPView solution worked perfectly for me. Thanks a lot for your help.
You are awesome.
The solution you outlined in “update 1” did the trick!
Thanks for the help.
TCPView worked magic! Thanks for sharing this info. You are genius!