A faulty signature update for Microsoft Security Essentials and Microsoft Forefront made an error on Friday and classified the Google Chrome executable file for Windows as a malware, specifically a ZeuS Trojan.

That malware is notorious for being used to steal bank account credentials.

Microsoft fixed the problem after a few hours, but had affected about 3,000 Chrome users who were left without bookmarks and browser plugins to access commonly used Web pages and services.

"Worst impact has been for people who are long-time Chrome users, as all of their bookmarks and sessions are configured in Chrome.... Most annoying is the required reboot which causes productivity loss, especially for people who run VMs and such on their desktops as it can take a while to get everything back up and going," The A Register quoted an affected Chrome user's email.

Microsoft acknowledged its error and offered users how to fix the problem.

"Affected customers should manually Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) with the latest signatures. To do this, simply launch MSE, go to the update tab and click the Update button, and then reinstall Google Chrome. We apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused our customers," the Microsoft statement said.

Google also released an update to address the problem. However, some Chrome users criticised Microsoft on Twitter over the error.

"Sneaky sneaky Microsoft. Nice way to 'eliminate' the competition. Wonder how many are too lazy to reinstall," inwire quoted the tweet of Fyre Starta.

Microsoft Internet Explorer accounts for 54 per cent market share while Google Chrome has only 16 per cent market share.