Google Chrome is unresponsive. Relaunch now? Ouch!

If you use Chrome you may be running into a new problem: Google Chrome is unresponsive. Relaunch now? Relaunching does not resolve the problem.

Chrome

Chrome

The problem popped up in 2015 and seems to be back. It bit me after the latest Win 10 upgrade(?). But, the fix in 2017 is different than in 2015.

Clicking a URL link in another app should open Chrome and subsequently the target web page. Instead you get the ‘unresponsive’ error message. There was a popular 2015 work-around for those using Outlook or Thunderbird:

  1. Close Outlook
  2. Right click the Outlook icon (you may need to hold down shift) and select “Properties”
  3. Click the “Compatibility” tab
  4. Check the “run this program as administrator” box under settings.
  5. Close and restart Outlook.

If you are a Thunderbird user, of course, change ‘Outlook’ to ‘Thunderbird’.

I hope you recognize the problem of running an email app as Administrator. The whole security point of not running as an Admin is to make your computer safe. Elevating your email app to have Admin rights does most of the work a hacker needs to crack open your computer. Way unsafe.

Of course, the work around also does nothing to fix the problem for links in Twitter, Plurk, Flickr, and others.

So, before you go nuts ripping things apart, building a new profile to use in Chrome, or any number of other ‘recommended’ fixes, close Chrome and restart it. If links work now, you are done. If not, restart the computer. If that fails too, you need to report the problem to Google. Chrome’s help will send a bug report.

Until they fix your problem, it will be inconvenient. But, don’t elevate your apps’ permissions.

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