Facepalm: Users of the popular Malwarebytes antivirus software who downloaded the latest Windows 11 Patch Tuesday update earlier this week might have noticed a problem with Chrome: the browser no longer appears on screen when loaded. The company says it is working on addressing the issue.
Tuesday saw Windows 10 KB5027215 and Windows 11 KB5027231 patches roll out. It's pretty much accepted these days that Windows updates will cause problems, though this particular one appears limited to Windows 11.
As per Neowin, users have complained that after installing the patch, Google Chrome is no longer displaying after loading. The browser is listed in the device manager, but it won't appear on screen. One person writes that the only way to fix this issue is to disable Malwarebytes.
A Malwarebytes employee with the username Msherwood confirmed that there were issues with Malwarebytes Exploit Protection and Chrome in Windows 11 causing the browser to crash. The company said it suspects the Windows Update KB5027231 is the cause, and it is actively troubleshooting the problem.
Another Malwarebytes employee, Arthi, has suggested a couple of workarounds until the problem is fixed. Either set Chrome as the default browser, which doesn't seem to work for some people, or turn off Chrome as a protected application in the Malwarebytes product, which can be done in the Settings->Security tab.
Some users say that if those suggestions don't work, disabling the antivirus' Exploit Protection can resolve the issue, though, much like turning off Chrome as a protected application, does come with obvious security risks.
The report focuses on Malwarebytes being the problem with Chrome following the patch installation, but some users say that other antivirus programs are causing the same issue. One person claims that the bug only occurs when users have any other Chromium-based browser (Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, etc.) set as the default option in Windows 11, though that's not confirmed.
In a related story, there was a Windows update released in May that also caused a Chrome function to break. Suspiciously, the feature in question was a button that allowed users to switch their default browser with a single click.
https://www.techspot.com/news/99084-latest-windows-update-breaking-chrome-users.html
