Skype has confirmed that some versions of its software contain a bug that can cause the app to crash and never start up. The company has released a patch to fix the problem, so be sure to update your Skype client right away.
Until then, typing the following eight characters into a Skype chat on a Windows, iOS, or Android device will crash Skype right away:
http://:
This isn’t just a bug. It’s a Skype-killer. Since these characters now live forever in your chat history, the app will not open again. The only exception appears to be to users running Skype on Apple’s OS X or on the modern Windows Metro interface.
But not all hope is lost; as one Skype user points out, people who have fallen victim to this vulnerability can fix it with help from the person who sent the malicious message. If that person should delete the eight characters from their own chat history, then you can re-install an older version of the app.
But let’s not let things turn out that way. Just install the updated software and you’re good to go. Until then, beware of people sending you incomplete URLs via Skype chat.
H/T Venturebeat | Photo via 1000heads/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)