Microsoft is reportedly making it hard for users to access Chrome on their desktops, and the latest culprit is said to be a feature known as “Windows Family Safety.” Almost half a month after it was noticed by users, another problem popped up when attempting to use Chrome on the Windows operating system, and Microsoft has yet to address the issue.
As of writing, there are still no fixes released by Microsoft to allow them to use Chrome on Windows, with many users sharing the crash issues on online forums.
Windows Family Safety Blocks Chrome Access
A new update from Google Community Manager, Ellen T., confirmed that there is indeed an issue present on Windows platforms when opening Chrome when the Windows Family Safety feature is enabled. This is the latest issue that is currently surrounding Chrome and its availability on Windows devices, with Google’s spokesperson saying that the company is already investigating the problem.
Engadget reported that the issue has been present amongst Windows users for almost three weeks now, with the first reports popping up around June 3. The many crash reports were discussed on Reddit’s r/Chrome forum and users have pointed out that after the browser quickly opens, it would close without any error messages.
One Redditor pointed out that it may be because of Windows’s parental controls as there were about nine students of theirs who raised the issue to their IT specialists. Google also confirmed that this was indeed the root of the case as the Chrome crashes were happening if a specific computer had the Windows Family Safety feature enabled.
Despite being able to pinpoint the exact problem these past weeks, Microsoft has yet to deliver a fix for the issue on its Family Safety feature.
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Microsoft Prevents Chrome Use on Windows
The issue is mainly centered on the Windows Family Safety feature blocking access to the Google Chrome browser, and one of the easiest and simplest fixes for this problem is to disable or turn it off. However, there may be several parents or guardians who do not want to do this, and luckily there is a workaround available now while waiting for Microsoft to fix the problem.
First, parents could turn off the “Filter Inappropriate Websites” option in the Family Safety feature’s settings page. However, this would remove the website restrictions and firewalls kept by the feature that prevents users of certain ages from accessing inappropriate websites.
The other option, albeit a more complex one, is to go directly to the Chrome application folder and replace the file name of the browser software. Simply replace the original name, “chrome.exe,” with something like “chrome1.exe'” (as per Engadget) or other names to have the Family Safety feature avoid detecting Chrome.
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