Launcher Cleanup

Launcher Cleanup

Launcher Cleanup is a console-style “housekeeping” feature for Steam Big Picture setups. Its goal is to keep your system clean and predictable after launching games that use third-party launchers (Ubisoft Connect, EA App, Epic, Battle.net, etc.).

Many launchers do not truly exit when you close their window (they minimize-to-tray), and some leave helper processes running (WebCore/WebHelper, background services). This can cause:

• Steam showing “Resume” for a launcher even though you think you closed it
• Extra background CPU/RAM usage
• Extra “busy” windows stealing focus or appearing over Steam
• Launchers interfering with Game Foreground Assist / focus recovery in edge cases

Launcher Cleanup exists to automatically close/kill those leftover launcher processes after you’re safely back in Steam.

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What Launcher Cleanup does

When eligible, SteamShell will:

1. Detect any running processes that match your configured lists:

   • LauncherExeList (launcher UI / main EXEs)
   • BackgroundExeList (helpers/services/webcore/updaters)

2. Decide if it is safe to clean up right now:

   • Steam must be foreground long enough (to avoid closing things while you’re still using them)
   • Optionally require “no game running” detection (to avoid closing launchers mid-game)
   • Optionally apply Download Guard (to avoid closing launchers during updates/downloads)

3. Close/kill the processes:

   • Attempts a graceful close first (where applicable)
   • If HardKill=true, uses forceful termination for stubborn processes

This is intentionally conservative. It’s designed to run only when you are back at Steam and “done” with the launcher.

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Why it exists (the real-world problem)

A typical flow without cleanup:

1. Launch a game from Steam
2. A launcher opens (EA/Epic/Ubisoft/etc.)
3. You exit the game
4. The launcher window closes… but the launcher stays running in the background
5. You return to Steam, and:
   • Steam may show a Resume button for the launcher
   • Helpers remain running (multiple WebCore/WebHelper processes)
   • Focus behavior can get messier over time

Launcher Cleanup makes that “step 4” go away automatically.

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When it runs (trigger rules)

Launcher Cleanup only evaluates and runs when these conditions are met:

• Enable=true
• Steam has been foreground continuously for SteamForegroundSec seconds
• Cooldown (CooldownSec) has elapsed since the last cleanup attempt
• If RequireNoGame=true, SteamShell must detect no game running
• Optional: If Download Guard is enabled, SteamShell must not detect an active download/update pattern

This keeps it from interfering with normal desktop use or game sessions.

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Recommended baseline settings

[LauncherCleanup]
Enable=true
HardKill=true
SteamForegroundSec=30
CooldownSec=120
RequireNoGame=true

UseCpuAudio=true
CpuThreshold=8
AudioPeakThreshold=0.01

DownloadGuard=true
DownloadGuardMode=Balanced   ; Off|Balanced|Strict