14 DAY TRIAL // If you’re a long-time Google Chrome user (and there are big chances that you are, given the fact that the browser currently has a market share above 50 percent on the desktop), you’ve probably noticed that some Microsoft websites are no longer working since a couple of weeks ago.
Although it’s not yet clear how widespread this problem actually is, we’ve seen reports that the majority of Microsoft websites are causing similar issues, including here the company’s corporate page or even the Windows Store.
And what’s worse is that users aren’t getting too much info on what exactly is going on, but only an error saying that “This site can’t be reached,” along with a message telling that www.microsoft.com unexpectedly closed the connection.
How to fix the issue
It appears, however, that the fix is simpler than anyone expected, and according to Microsoft watcher Paul Thurrott, it takes just a few clicks to solve the problem.
What you have to do is to attempt to load one of the websites that fail to open, and when seeing the aforementioned error, go to the following path to remove cookies and site data for the page you’re having trouble with: Settings > Show Advanced Settings > Privacy > Content Settings > All cookies and site data > Remove All.
By doing this, however, you’re going to lose local cookies and site content saved on your drives, including here saved logins and other data. So if you don’t feel like starting from scratch all over again, this solution might not be for you.
In the meantime, if you’re also experiencing this kind of issues and don’t want to lose any data in Google Chrome, you can simply turn to a different browser, such as Microsoft Edge. There’ll certainly be users who’ll claim that this is Microsoft planning some sort of conspiracy to turn users to Edge, but it’s more of an issue that’ll be fixed in the coming updates.