A bug in Chromium-based browsers generates random debug files
Computer users who are taking advantage of Chromium-based browsers like Chrome, Edge, and others on Windows 10 should be aware of a bug. The bug is creating a file called "debug.log" in placing the file on the desktop. A new report claims that the file is created by Chromium browsers and the issue isn't Microsoft's fault.
The Chromium open-source project generates the source code used by all Chromium-based browsers. The debug file is caused by a bug in the source code used by the browsers and affects all browsers using that source code. The bug reared its head after a recent update for Edge, Chrome, and others.
When the "debug.log" file is opened, it has a message reading "FindFirstFile: The system cannot find the path specified". If the user deletes the file from the desktop, it is recreated. Multiple users have reported the error to the Microsoft community forum and Chromium bug repository. Speculation suggests that developers could have added a task that checks if there's a problem in the browser.
The generation of the file appears to be an unintended consequence. Browsers shouldn't be creating a log file and if there's a failure the file should have more detail about what's going on. The issue was first reported earlier in October, but it doesn't appear that all Windows 10 computers running Chromium-based browsers are creating the debug.log file.
Users who are seeing the file on their system can ignore it as it is harmless. However, those wishing to prevent their computer from creating the file can delete the contents inside of a folder called Crashpad. The steps to do that are below.