back to article Microsoft has another crack at fixing Chrome problems in Windows 10

A few short weeks since Patch Tuesday, Microsoft has emitted a raft of fixes for Windows 10 including one that should ease the pain of some Chrome users. The Windows 10 April 2018 Update (aka 1803) broke Google's Chrome browser in some configurations and while subsequent patches stabilised the troubled operating system, issues …

  1. Only me!
    Thumb Down

    Downdate not Update

    The update was shocking BSOD every few mins...I was unable to work....by the time I had everything opened up and connected it would die again....and I am using a NEW SURFACE which really says how bad it is when MS hardware becomes useless....best fix I found for Chrome is:

    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" -disable-direct-composition

    Anyway...fingers crossed it has not died in the last week......wonder if I can remove the -disable-direct-composition yet?

    1. bombastic bob Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: Downdate not Update

      'Downdate' not 'Update' - ever since GWX

  2. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Here we go again

    Same old, same old.

    When will they get it right?

    {don't answer that!}

  3. RyokuMas
    Trollface

    Best fix for Chrome...

    ... is to install Firefox. Regardless of OS.

    1. Danny 14

      Re: Best fix for Chrome...

      nice idea but chrome had really good group policies. Far more than edge. chrome is our primary browser with IE for those aging silverlight apps we have.

    2. Steve Knox
      Facepalm

      Re: Best fix for Chrome...

      install Firefox.

      Yeah. Because the pesky part of "performance problems" is the "performance" part..

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And when will they fix

    the complete clusterfuck called KB4284880?? Multiple 2016 servers that won't install this update, despite having applied the 2216 pre-req. first. Totally broken servicing stack since last month's updates. The second Tuesday of every month is now Dirty Harry day: "Do I feel lucky? Well do ya, punk?!!

  5. DJV Silver badge

    !

    "perfectly serviceable web trotter in the form of Edge"

    Evidence, m'lud, that Microsoft are a cloud company. Well, still living in cloud cuckoo land, anyway...

    1. phuzz Silver badge
      Stop

      Re: !

      Hey now! Edge is a perfectly acceptable way of downloading Firefox or Chrome.

      (It'll also load the odd site that is too old and broken to work on Firefox or Chrome, but that's hardly an endorsement. I keep IE around for the same reason, but that hardly makes it useful.)

  6. ekithump

    Clusterfuck

    Have they fixed the one that bricked a two day old Surface Pro yet too?

    MS should spend a little longer testing the crap they emit, before defecating over their user base.

    1. Spanners Silver badge
      Alert

      Re: Fustercluck

      MS should spend a little longer testing the crap they emit, before defecating over their user base.

      Why should they do that? It has been a very profitable habit and that is their only consideration.

    2. JohnFen

      Re: Clusterfuck

      "MS should spend a little longer testing the crap they emit"

      Come on, get with the times. In our forced-updating, rapid-release world today, there isn't time for pesky things like "testing" anymore.

  7. fandom

    ""An invalid argument was supplied.""

    I just love helpful error messages.

  8. adnim

    I was surprised

    The April June update worked fine for me, it took about an hour to update after download.

    Everything seems to work as I would expect so far, even Chrome which I use with LAN access for the development tools. No SMB1 use and wtf is media center content? Am I a poor web dev for trying to be as cross platform as possible and never using smb1 or not knowing how to integrate media center content with chrome?

    The update did reset some of my privacy settings and deleted my firewall program (Private Firewall 7) due to "not compatible" or some such twaddle. I kind of expected this, yet I was surprised to find that my start menu was not altered.

    I had to uninstall private firewall properly (the update didn't... it left most of the files and just deleted and disabled the loading of the NDIS driver) before I could install the very same version again despite the incompatibility".

    I can only presume Microsoft does not like user installed tools that interfere with their data collection activities.

    I have so little respect for Microsoft that I would have had a good time bitching about how bad the update was and how it fsckd up my machine. But alas, other than just deleting code it did not like and giving applications access to things I had previously blocked (camera, microphone, contacts etc. etc the update was flawless.

    I am not sure if I am being sarcastic. Usually there are so many work continuity breaking issues that a few less major issues are acceptable. I have obviously been conditioned by Microsoft into accepting a few niggles with a sigh of relief.

    YMMV

    I reboot into Win 10 now and see if anything has changed

    1. adnim

      Re: I was surprised

      Update:

      I am in garden watching sunset.... I wrote the above on this machine in Firefox on Mint 18.

      After booting into Win 10: the static IP connection to a hidden AP didn't work. I had to connect to the visible AP and get DHCP from my 'unsafe' subnet. And why does El Reg take 5+ times longer to open in Firefox on Win 10 than it does under Mint? If I was consumer people would it matter, would I notice?

      Time to reboot ;-)

      1. Sandtitz Silver badge
        WTF?

        Re: I was surprised

        "After booting into Win 10: the static IP connection to a hidden AP didn't work."

        What are you trying to accomplish with hiding the SSID?

    2. Robert Carnegie Silver badge
      Joke

      Re: I was surprised

      We apologise for failing to corrupt your Start Menu during Windows Update. Please bring your PC to a Customer Servicing Center , in order that our engineer can satisfy you manually.

  9. Lorin Thwaits

    It's incredible to me ...

    ... how willing Microsoft is to completely defile the very product which brought them to being a household name. Surely this will not end well.

    1. Fungus Bob
      Windows

      Re: It's incredible to me ...

      To be honest, it is a *very* narrow defile - lateral movement (to competitor's software) is impossible...

    2. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

      Re: It's incredible to me ...

      BASIC? It's just not the same without the RENUMBER command.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just more pain

    With every Microsoft "update" there is more pain and suffering for Windows users. If Microsoft can't fix their own broken, defective OSs without causing more harm to users, then Microsoft needs to be fined tens of millions of dollars for every cluster "update" they release to the public. Businesses and PC users should not ender more financial losses, data losses, or any other loss as a result of Microsoft's inability to properly repair their defective OSs.

  11. Big-nosed Pengie

    After all this time

    And people are still using this Microsoft shite?

    Cry me a river.

  12. JohnFen

    Pointless choice

    "Windows 10 contains a perfectly serviceable web trotter in the form of Edge so why would anyone need to sully their system with Google's wares?"

    If the choice is between Edge and Chrome, Chrome is clearly the better option. But my question is -- why would anyone use either of those things when there are better alternatives available?

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Edge?

    The Edge on my 32bit system was blown out with he first Windows update and no one has been able to figure ot how to fix it! I than started using Google Chrome, but a few months ago it became useless also. So I have been using Firefox ever since with Chrome, but it also has become almost useless... My only hope is that some update will fix something without screwing up something else!

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