Latest news with #EllenT
Time of India
9 hours ago
- Time of India
This Microsoft feature is accidentally ‘blocking' Google Chrome on Windows
Microsoft 's Family Safety tool is reportedly preventing Google Chrome from opening on some Windows devices. According to a report by The Verge, the issue was first noticed on June 3, and since then, more users have complained about it. It is affecting those who have enabled Family Safety on their devices, causing Chrome to either close immediately or fail to launch at all. Other web browsers, such as Firefox and Opera, however are not affected. What is Microsoft's Family Safety feature The Family Safety feature is commonly used by schools and parents through Microsoft 365 subscriptions to limit online access for children. The bug, as per the report, has now been active for over two weeks, with no update or resolution from Microsoft at the time of publication. Google Chrome acknowledges the issue by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Investire è più facile che mai BG SAXO Scopri di più Undo The Verge report quotes Chrome support manager Ellen T who said 'Our team has investigated these reports and determined the cause of this behavior. For some users, Chrome is unable to run when Microsoft Family Safety is enabled.' While Chrome has acknowledged the issue, Microsoft is yet to issue a public statement or a timeline for a fix. 'We've not heard anything from Microsoft about a fix being rolled out,' a Chromium engineer wrote in a bug report dated June 10. 'They have provided guidance to users who contact them about how to get Chrome working again, but I wouldn't think that would have a large effect.' Some users have found that renaming the Chrome executable file (e.g., from to allows the browser to function. Disabling the 'filter inappropriate websites' option in Family Safety also resolves the issue, but removes content restrictions for children. While the issue is believed to be accidental, Microsoft has previously faced criticism for trying to steer users away from Chrome and toward its own Edge browser, using popups, misleading messages, and in some cases, altering search results. World Music Day 2025: Tech That Changed How We Listen to Music
The Verge
11 hours ago
- The Verge
Microsoft is blocking Google Chrome through its family safety feature
Earlier this month, Microsoft's Family Safety feature, primarily used by parents and schools as a set of parental controls and filters, started randomly blocking Google's Chrome browser from opening on Windows. The first reports surfaced on June 3rd, with some Chrome users noticing the browser kept closing or wouldn't open. Microsoft has introduced a bug into Family Safety that specifically targets the Chrome browser and prevents it from functioning on Windows. 'Our team has investigated these reports and determined the cause of this behavior,' says Chrome support manager Ellen T. 'For some users, Chrome is unable to run when Microsoft Family Safety is enabled.' Other browsers like Firefox or Opera appear to be unaffected, and some users have even found that renaming to works around this issue. Schools or parents who have enabled Family Safety as part of a Microsoft 365 subscription can also disable the 'filter inappropriate websites' setting in Family Safety to get Chrome up and running again, but this does leave children able to access any website. It's unclear when Microsoft will fix the issue, which has been ongoing for more than two weeks. We reached out to Microsoft to comment on this problem earlier this week, but at the time of publication, the company hasn't responded. 'We've not heard anything from Microsoft about a fix being rolled out,' wrote a Chromium engineer in a bug tracking thread on June 10th. 'They have provided guidance to users who contact them about how to get Chrome working again, but I wouldn't think that would have a large effect.' Microsoft has a habit of doing weird things on Windows to steer people away from using Chrome. While this Family Safety issue is likely an innocent bug, Microsoft has used prompts, fake AI answers, malware-like popups, and even a poll injected on Google's Chrome download page to try and sway people to switch to its Edge browser. Earlier this year, Microsoft even used Bing to trick people into thinking they were on Google.
