Steam client re-downloading content

[Lt.Dan]

So this weekend I get an auto-email from my ISP saying I've hit 80% of my download cap.  Turns out Steam was busy downloading a couple of games that I'd already downloaded chalking up about 7Gb in unnecessary downloads.

Any ideas on how this might have happened?  I'd exited from Steam last week but normally let it sit in the background.

Any ideas on how I can stop it happening in the future?  There are bugger all options for controlling downloads from the Steam client.  No scheduling, no user acceptance for downloads.  All I could do was put it in offline mode. 

[Vaiti]

Keep it in offline mode?
Don't leave Steam open when you aren't using it?

The automatic updates and downloading can't be stopped otherwise.
Why it would redownload abunch of stuff you already had downloaded I haven't a clue about.

[Azazel]

Also, hit the checkbox to stop Steam from automatically starting when you boot up your PC.

[vex]

You can set individual games not to update automatically which may or may not help.  You change that by right clicking on the game in the library, it is under properties.

[Minvaren]

I re-downloaded HL2 about a week or two ago, and since then, each time I play it and exit, Steam spends 2-3 minutes "updating" it.  I don't see it downloading too much each time, but it sure is annoying.  Hopefully a client patch fixes this soon.

[caladein]

I re-downloaded HL2 about a week or two ago, and since then, each time I play it and exit, Steam spends 2-3 minutes "updating" it.  I don't see it downloading too much each time, but it sure is annoying.  Hopefully a client patch fixes this soon.

That's probably just Steam Cloud updating your settings and saves on their servers.  2-3 minutes does sound a touch long, but I've only dealt with Steam Cloud in Torchlight and Team Fortress 2.

[Minvaren]

I re-downloaded HL2 about a week or two ago, and since then, each time I play it and exit, Steam spends 2-3 minutes "updating" it.  I don't see it downloading too much each time, but it sure is annoying.  Hopefully a client patch fixes this soon.

That's probably just Steam Cloud updating your settings and saves on their servers.  2-3 minutes does sound a touch long, but I've only dealt with Steam Cloud in Torchlight and Team Fortress 2.

Huh, guess they rolled out that feature right as I downloaded it again.  Not that I'll need the saves in another week or so (minus a token one past that freaking bridge).

The Steam Cloud will store your most recent 100MB of save files - each save game, once compressed, takes around 2MB so that's around 50 save files.

With how often I quicksave, there's the "2-3 minutes" explanation.