Microsoft blocks Chrome when users enable Family Safety

Microsoft's Windows family control feature is causing a bug that prevents users from opening the Google Chrome browser in certain situations.

The problem began to appear in early June, when many users discovered that the Google Chrome browser was blocked on Windows computers. Specifically, this situation occurred when the Family Safety feature was turned on – a content control tool often used by parents and schools to manage devices.

The first reports were recorded on June 3, with a series of reflections about Chrome not being able to start or automatically closing as soon as it opened. Meanwhile, other browsers such as Firefox or Opera still worked normally, not affected by the same error.

According to Ms. Ellen T - Chrome Support Director, Google's technical team quickly investigated. The results showed that the cause came from the Family Safety feature that prevented Chrome from running for some users, and Google is currently looking for a way to fix this problem.

Some users have found a temporary fix by renaming the Chrome.exe executable file to Chrome1.exe. Additionally, for parents or schools using the Family Safety feature of Microsoft 365, disabling the “filter inappropriate websites” setting also helps the Chrome browser work again.

Users find that Google Chrome browser is blocked on Windows computers.

However, this option comes with risks, as turning off the filter allows children to access any content on the internet without any control barriers. This leaves many parents and schools confused about choosing between content security and browser rights.

Microsoft has yet to provide a specific timeframe for a fix, despite the issue having been ongoing for more than two weeks. A Chromium engineer said on June 10 that they have not received any updates from Microsoft. The company has only directed users to contact support, but that is said to be insufficient to completely resolve the issue.

Microsoft’s inadvertent Chrome block comes as the company has repeatedly been embroiled in controversy for trying to push users to its Edge browser, which has been plagued by annoying prompts, pop-ups, and aggressive advertising-like features built into the operating system that have frustrated users.

Earlier this year, Microsoft was criticized for using Bing search results to mislead users, and some AI features were also criticized for being “misdirected” to convince users to continue using Edge instead of other browsers.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/microsoft-chan-chrome-khi-nguoi-dung-bat-tinh-nang-family-safety-318513.html