System crash after deleting ".DS_Store" files?

Question

My Finder view options were a bit messed up, so I decided to follow some online advice and delete all ".DS_Store" files on my MBP. I followed instructions on osxdaily.com. Specifically, I typed the following command into Terminal:
sudo find / -name ".DS_Store" -depth -exec rm {} \;
After the command finished running I tried to restart the computer but it would just show the grey screen with the Apple logo and the progress indicator and not start up properly. I was able to run Disk Utility and verified the HDD. No errors were displayed. I chose "repair disk" anyway, but the computer still would not start up. Entering safe boot mode didn't work either. In the end, I chose to reinstall OSX 10.8 from the Internet. I didn't want to reinstall a backup from Time Machine because there were some files I hadn't backed up yet.
Fortunately my MBP seems to be working properly again, but what's weird is that I had to reinstall every single application. The application files were still present in the application folder but their icons were greyed out and they wouldn't launch.
Does anybody have any idea why this happened? Is it that dangerous to delete ".DS_Store" files? Should I use a different command? I would still like to get rid of those files so I can redefine a default view for all folders.
And is it normal that if I reinstall OSX I need to reinstall all applications as well?

Answer 1

Letting something arbitrarily delete every .DS_Store file on your computer invites bad things to happen.
Running rm is dangerous as is--letting it run rough-shod all over your computer is infinitely dangerous.
I don't know why there is a .DS_Store file  inside an app package, but removing it "damages" the App just as if some malicious code might write malware into the package. So, it is no mystery why they do not work anymore.
Deleting specific .DS_Store files in folders is not normally a problem.
If you have a problem in one folder that doesn't hold its settings, deleting the .DS_Store file is ok.
Here's how I would do it, though:
Open the folder and Cmd-F.
If you don't already, use the Other... option in the Criteria popup to add the System Files and Visibility options to the criteria menu (check the box to include in men).
Set the Search criteria to System Files are included and Visibility is invisible.
Type ".DS_Store" in the search field. You should see the .DS_Store file for that folder at the top of the list, and then all the others in the subfolders.
You can delete it from there.