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Author Topic: Ridiculous bug can crash yours Win 7 or 8  (Read 11060 times)

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Samker

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Ridiculous bug can crash yours Win 7 or 8
« on: 04. July 2017., 20:27:53 »


Just because Windows 7 is close to eight years old doesn’t mean you still can’t find ridiculous bugs that can crash your PC.

Russian-language site: https://habrahabr.ru/company/aladdinrd/blog/329166/ recently published one such bug that apparently causes problems if you simply visit a website, as first noticed by Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.co.uk/information-technology/2017/05/in-a-throwback-to-the-90s-ntfs-bug-lets-anyone-hang-or-crash-windows-7-8-1/

The problem also affects Windows 8 and Vista PCs, but Windows 10 PCs are unaffected.

Here’s how the bug works. All a naughty website has to do is use the character string ‘$MFT’ in the directory name where a website keeps its images. Windows expects to see the four characters $MFT only in a special metadate file on your PC. When it sees those characters as a directory name, however, it causes enough problems that an affected PC will begin to slow down and eventually hang. At that point your only recourse is to reboot the machine. In some cases, the problem may even trigger the dreaded blue screen of death (BSOD).

Website directories

Behind the scenes, a website has a file structure with directories (also known as folders) just as your PC does. Usually, images are stored in something like ‘greatwebsite.com/images/’. Perhaps that’s why no one discovered this bug until now. Who would think to name their image directory or sub-directory ‘$MFT’, after all? But even the lamest bugs won’t remain a secret forever when confronted with curious security researchers.

We didn’t have a chance to test this bug before press time, but The Verge reports it was able to successfully hang a Windows 7 PC using the trick: https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/26/15696704/microsoft-windows-7-windows-8-pc-crash-bug-ntfs

The impact on you at home: If you’re running a machine affected by this bug there’s really not much you can do other than not load images from websites. That would be overkill, however, as chances are slim you’d run into a website exploiting this bug if you stick to well known sites. Microsoft hasn’t responded to this issue yet, but presumably it will issue a fix for Windows 7 and 8 PCs. Vista machines, however, are unlikely to see a patch as the operating system is no longer supported by Microsoft: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3180571/windows/windows-vista-has-just-30-days-to-live.html

(PCW)

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Ridiculous bug can crash yours Win 7 or 8
« on: 04. July 2017., 20:27:53 »

krishna88

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Re: Ridiculous bug can crash yours Win 7 or 8
« Reply #1 on: 26. December 2017., 08:26:20 »
Hi @Samker,

Thanks for sharing the useful information about Windows PC crash bug and the impacts of it in detail.  :up:

ellen123

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Re: Ridiculous bug can crash yours Win 7 or 8
« Reply #2 on: 26. December 2017., 09:00:05 »
At that point your only recourse is to reboot the machine

ellen123

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Re: Ridiculous bug can crash yours Win 7 or 8
« Reply #3 on: 21. February 2018., 04:38:35 »
the lamest bugs won’t remain a secret forever when confronted with curious security researchers.   

RuskinF

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Re: Ridiculous bug can crash yours Win 7 or 8
« Reply #4 on: 07. August 2020., 15:42:32 »
I know of one ridiculous bug as well. It was introduced in Windows 7 in the year 2020.
I will let you have a sneak peek into it.

The “final” Windows 7 update, version KB4534310, apparently introduces a new bug that will require at least one more patch to remove. The bug is benign—all it does is cause your desktop’s wallpaper to turn black when you’ve set it to “Stretch”—but it’s still annoying.

Luckily, Microsoft has a couple of workarounds that fix the display bug so you won’t have to wait for the patch if you’re impatient. It’s still funny that Microsoft’s last scheduled Window 7 update will need another patch to fix a new bug, but not all that surprising considering the company’s track record for buggy updates.

Anyway, Windows 7 users who need to fix their wallpaper after installing update KB4534310 can try one of these solutions:

Right-click your desktop background, and then select “Personalize” > Desktop Wallpaper. Select one of the stock wallpaper options and make sure “Picture Position” is set to either Fill, Fit, Tile, or Center. Don’t use “Stretch,” as that’s the setting that causes the bug.
If you want to use a custom wallpaper image instead, right-click on your desktop, go to “Personalize” > Desktop Wallpaper, and then click “Browse” to select a custom image you have saved on your PC. Make sure that the background image matches the resolution of your desktop exactly (for example, if you’re using a monitor with 1920-by-1080 resolution, choose an image of the same dimensions). Once again, only use the Fill, Fit, Tile, or Center options for “Picture Position.”

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Re: Ridiculous bug can crash yours Win 7 or 8
« Reply #4 on: 07. August 2020., 15:42:32 »

 

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