Earlier this month, Google’s Chrome browser was being sporadically blocked from opening on Windows by Microsoft’s Family Safety feature, which is mostly utilized by parents and schools as a collection of parental controls and filters. When some Chrome users noticed that the browser kept closing or wouldn’t open, the first reports appeared on June 3.
A bug that particularly targets the Chrome browser and stops it from working on Windows has been inserted by Microsoft into Family Safety. According to Chrome support manager Ellen T., “Our team has looked into these reports and identified the reason for this behavior.” “When Microsoft Family Safety is enabled, Chrome may not function properly for certain users.”
Some users have even discovered that renaming Chrome.exe to Chrome1.exe resolves this problem, and other browsers like Firefox or Opera seem to be unaffected. To get Chrome back up and running, parents or schools that have Family Safety enabled as part of a Microsoft 365 subscription can also disable the “filter inappropriate websites” setting in Family Safety. However, this does not prevent kids from accessing any website.
The problem has been there for more than two weeks, and it is unclear when Microsoft will resolve it. Earlier this week, we contacted Microsoft for comment on this issue, but as of publication, the corporation had not replied.
In a bug tracking thread on June 10th, a Chromium engineer stated, “We have not received any word from Microsoft regarding the rollout of a fix.” “I don’t think that would have a big impact, but they have given users who contact them instructions on how to get Chrome working again.”
Microsoft frequently takes strange actions on Windows to discourage users from adopting Chrome. Microsoft has attempted to persuade consumers to switch to its Edge browser by using prompts, phony AI responses, malware-like popups, and even a poll that was included on Google’s Chrome download page, even though this Family Safety concern is probably just a harmless glitch. Microsoft even tricked individuals into believing they were on Google earlier this year by using Bing.
