Jeber 71 Posted February 4, 2013 This Text String Crashes Almost Any App on a Mac Running Mountain Lion. Here's a weird little OS X quirk: the eight-character code above seems to cause pretty much any app on a Mac running Mountain Lion to crash, instantly. It's not clear why, but tapping in the code seems to cause most apps running on Mountain Lion to crash, losing any open files in the process. Interestingly, it doesn't seem to work on an old black MacBook we've got running 10.7.1, so it's probably limited to just Mountain Lion, where we've confirmed it works in several apps just, err, fine. So, if you're feeling like a bit of a practical joker today, you know what to do. http://gizmodo.com/5981370/this-text-string-crashes-almost-any-app-on-a-mac-running-mountain-lion This topic has been all over Google+ this weekend. I haven't tried it and don't intend to, but it's odd that no one has come forth with an explanation for how this works. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
therock247uk 68 Posted February 4, 2013 from what ive read its something to do with the spell checker functions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LilBambi 3,283 Posted February 5, 2013 Interesting... Guess this is one time when being 1 version back turns out to be a good thing ROFL! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
therock247uk 68 Posted February 5, 2013 i wonder when they will patch it its been days now cant be that hard to change the code around. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Temmu 1,931 Posted February 5, 2013 lol, perhaps. it may take some really good people to figure out just what to modify, and do so w/o messing up an existing "gold" code base. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crp 778 Posted February 5, 2013 what does the URL look like in Safari when a local file is opened? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LilBambi 3,283 Posted February 6, 2013 The url is the same as the one that crashes Mountain Lion: file:/// It does not crash Lion or I wouldn't have been able to tell you that LOL! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Corrine 2,645 Posted February 6, 2013 I don't know if this is of any interest to Mac users, but for any value added: Anatomy of a bug – how Mac OS X chokes if you say “FILE” | Naked Security Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crp 778 Posted February 6, 2013 The url is the same as the one that crashes Mountain Lion: file:/// It does not crash Lion or I wouldn't have been able to tell you that LOL! no, "file:///" # "File:///" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LilBambi 3,283 Posted February 7, 2013 no, "file:///" # "File:///" Nope. In Safari in Lion, you can't go to File:///, it changes it to file:/// so it doesn't crash. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crp 778 Posted February 7, 2013 Nope. In Safari in Lion, you can't go to File:///, it changes it to file:/// so it doesn't crash. hmm, sounds like the Safari programmers knew something Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Temmu 1,931 Posted February 7, 2013 (edited) that's a shame. ur, oh, um... lol, crp & i posted simultaneously. my comment was @ lilbambi... Edited February 7, 2013 by Temmu Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crp 778 Posted February 7, 2013 happened to me many years ago, so now i try to make sure to quote something even if it just the quote line. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Temmu 1,931 Posted February 12, 2013 lol, good idea! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
