A security researcher has found a method to hang every computer with Windows 7 or Windows 8. By navigating to a folder with a specific name in the browser or file explorer, the computer will become unresponsive, according to Ars Technica.
Both Windows 7 and Windows 8 suffer from the issue that arises someone navigates to a folder with the name '$MFT'.
We were able to verify the issues on both a Windows 7 and Windows 8 computer. When the problematic folder is visited, no new software can be executed and all other applications become unresponsive.
The computer hangs because the filesystem is locked due to the bug. All applications wait till the filesystem is unlocked but that never happens. The only way to recover a computer from the bug is by rebooting it manually.
We also tested the issue on Windows 10 but Microsoft's latest OS doesn't appear to suffer from the bug. Microsoft has not responded to the discovery yet.
