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I had been using the bleeding edge developer version of Google Chrome — currently at version 12 — for about a year without incident, then it crashed and wouldn’t launch. I had a copy of Google Chrome 10 handy, but it wouldn’t run for more than a few minutes.

Thereupon, whenever I launched Google Chrome v10.x.x, it would spawn an error message:

Your profile can not be used because it is from a newer version of Google Chrome. Some features may be unavailable. Please specify a different profile directory or use a newer version of Chrome.

Well, if you’re running Mac OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard, then rectifying the problem is quite simple. Just navigate to the correct folder and delete a file:

~user/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default and delete “Web data”

Complicated cat

For those beta testing Mac OS X 10.7 beta, it’s a little more complicated. That is, Lion hides the Library folder inside the user’s home directory.

This problem likewise has a simple solution. Fire up Terminal (Utilities folder) and type or paste…

• defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
• Hit the Return key

Then just log out of OS X (Finder > Command + Shift + Q) and log back in to effect the change. Voila! You can see the folder and kill the offending file.

To make hidden files invisible again, replace “YES” with “NO” in the command terminal command, hit return, do the logout/login shuffle and you’re good to go.

Know a handy dandy Mac tip or trick? Share your story and a link in the comments below…

via Google Chrome Profile Problem forum thread