Update: Call me clairvoyant, but as expected, Google has announced a quick fix. Close and exit any open Chrome window, then reopen Chrome and it will automatically apply. At this point the problem has not gone away, but in an update to the support thread on this topic, Rebecca, Google's support manager, said to leave Chrome open for about five minutes (presumably to allow time for the update to download and install), then stated to close Chrome again and launch it again. At that point the problem should be resolved.

The fix on LInux devices is a bit more complicated: go to the directory where your Chrome user profile resides (.config/google-chrome/) and change the contents of the [Chrome User Profile]◆Origin Trials subdirectory (which should contain the "1.0.0.7 directory") and delete the [Chrome user profile]◆Local State file. After this, Chrome should work as expected. 3]

Original: The latest version of Google's Chrome browser has been reported to be unstable on some Windows 10 PCs, causing problems with loading extensions and browser crashes. The main fix is to switch to a beta version of Chrome.

Excuse me?

This advice was given by a "Google Product Expert" in a thread on the Chrome support forum (via Windows Latest).

"It seems to be related to the user data directory that stores information about your current installation.

Fortunately, this is not the only fix (or more accurately, a temporary workaround). Running the installer for the stable version of Chrome may solve the problem, as may restarting Windows, which is also a magical way to solve the occasional strange problem with your PC.

However, not everyone sees a successful reboot or restart.

"Chrome won't start. It starts up, but the web page crashes, new tabs crash, or when I try to load settings or bookmarks. The application does not crash, only the web page does. I don't know what's going on, running sfc /scannow in CMD has no effect, running memory diagnostics did nothing, reinstalling Chrome, restarting, nothing happens."

If your Chrome browser suddenly goes haywire, there are a few fixes that don't involve switching to beta: make sure Chrome Sync is enabled (to avoid losing saved passwords, bookmarks, and site data), then try these steps

If these steps do not solve the problem, go through step 3 again, rename the "User Data" folder to a different name (such as "User Data Backup") and restart Chrome.

Apart from this method, you can also semi-nuclearize and completely erase Chrome from your PC and reinstall it: uninstall Chrome from "Add or Remove Programs" in the Windows 10 System Settings, then follow these steps:

be careful not to delete folders out of thin air, as fiddling with the registry can corrupt elements of Windows 10. Also, if you are really worried about the above steps, wait as Google will most likely release a fix.

In the meantime, you can use another stable browser: Microsoft Edge, which is based on the same Chromium platform as Chrome, but does not seem to have the same bugs that have caused problems with Chrome. PC Gamer also looks at Firefox, which we'll be keeping an eye on, because it's a browser we've been using for a while now, and we're not sure we'll like it enough to make it our main browser.