Microsoft’s Family Safety feature, designed primarily for parental controls and educational environments, has recently encountered a significant issue impacting users of Google’s Chrome browser. This complication first emerged on June 3, when numerous users reported that Chrome was either crashing or failing to launch entirely on Windows systems.
Official Response
In response to the growing concerns, Ellen T, the Chrome support manager, confirmed that the issue is indeed linked to Microsoft Family Safety. “Our team has investigated these reports and determined the cause of this behavior,” she stated. She further elaborated that “For some users, Chrome is unable to run when Microsoft Family Safety is enabled.” Notably, this glitch appears to be confined to Chrome, as alternative browsers such as Firefox and Opera remain unaffected.
Temporary Solutions
In light of this ongoing problem, some users have discovered a workaround that involves renaming the Chrome executable file from Chrome.exe to Chrome1.exe. Additionally, parents and schools utilizing Family Safety through a Microsoft 365 subscription can temporarily disable the “filter inappropriate websites” setting. However, this solution raises concerns, as it would permit unrestricted access to websites, undermining the very purpose of parental controls.
Awaiting Resolution
As the issue continues to linger, there has been no official communication from Microsoft regarding a timeline for a fix. A Chromium engineer noted in a bug tracking thread on June 10 that “We haven’t heard anything from Microsoft about a fix being rolled out.” While guidance has been provided to users seeking to restore functionality to Chrome, it is anticipated that these measures may not yield substantial results.
