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Typing 'http://:' Into a Skype Message Trashes the Installation Beyond Repair
An anonymous reader writes: A thread at the Skype community forums has brought to light a critical bug in Microsoft's Skype clients for Windows, iOS and Android: typing the incorrect URL initiator http://: into a text message on Skype will crash the client so badly that it can only be repaired by installing an older version and awaiting a fix from Microsoft. The bug does not affect OS X or the 'Metro'-style Windows clients — which means, effectively, that Mac users could kill the Skype installations on other platforms just by sending an eight-character message.
Good job guys!!
I'm not even sure I've heard of an error condition which required a full uninstall.
I predict many people will be sending that string today. I also predict someone will attempt to charge the people sending it with criminal hacking.
Keep up the good work.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
http://community.skype.com/t5/Windows-desktop-client/Skype-Fix-for-crashes-caused-by-bad-URL/td-p/3997463
Crashing is one thing.
Parsing input data sufficiently badly as to require an uninstall? That's pretty epic.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Watch out, everybody! There's a new Windows virus going about. See here for more information http://:
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
This. So much this.
I usually defend MS against people who I believe unfairly attack them, but you've really struck a nerve.
I don't know what team is responsible for Skype, but they have done such a mind boggling horrible job I'm half convinced they're intentionally trying to kill it, cut it into small pieces, then burn the remains before firing the ashes into the nearest black hole.
Every single version they push out has been worse than the last, and the last good version was 6.18. I loathe the day when they finally kill this version to force people into their newer, more broken, buggy, and less featured version. And to boot it wasn't enough that they started forcing people to update by patching it through Windows Update. I started my computer one day to find Skype completely uninstalled -- all because of Windows Update (which I now review for all updates after this tragic experience). Somehow it managed to uninstall itself and then couldn't reinstall itself because I replaced the update file with a dummy.
They keep removing features but *promise* to put them back in... And even years later the features still haven't back in added. But hey that's okay because now Skype can use even larger emoticons. Well fucking thanks for that useless fucking feature. That's all Skype gets nowadays, useless improvements and worse performance. The calls I get with 6.18 are perfect but with any version 7 I may as well just write letters and send them through the mail.
Oh but wait they changed the UI to be even worse! Now you have chat bubbles for some stupid fucking reason.
Microsoft we deserve an explanation for this total fucking incompetence. Maybe you should hire actual software developers instead of monkey interns who think smashing their face into a keyboard is an acceptable way to write software.