Easter Eggs in Windows Applications
Those Windows applications can do more than you think ...
This page was updated 26 February 2000
- Open Excel 97
- Press F5
- Type X97:L97
- Press OK
- Press TAB once
- Hold CTRL + SHIFT whilst clicking the ChartWizard icon
- What you get at this point depends on whether or not you have Microsoft's DirectDraw video software installed. If you don't, you simply got some animated credits.
- People with DirectDraw will instead enter a 3-D world in which you navigate with the mouse:
- Mouse Forward - Look Down
- Mouse Back - Look Up
- Mouse Left - Bank Left
- Mouse Right - Bank Right
- Left Button - Accelerate
- Right Button - Brake/Reverse
Ever wondered why Excel (version 7) for Windows 95 is so large ? Ever wondered why it needs so many developers ?
- Open Excel 95 with a blank worksheet
- Scroll down to row 95
- Click on the number 95 to select the entire row
- Press Tab once to move to column B
- Select the menu option Help ... About Microsoft Excel
- Hold down CTRL + ALT + SHIFT and click on the Tech Support button
- A window labeled Hall of Tortured Souls appears
- Directly ahead of you are stairs with a scrolling cast list.
Use the arrow keys for left, right, forward, backward, C and D are down and up.
- Turn around, go back down the stairs and type excelkfa.
- The wall disappears, and there's a winding path to navigate and see their pictures. If you fall off, you will need to start all over again.
- Open a new document
- Type "Blue"
- Select word
- Go to Format -> Font
- Choose Font Style Bold, Color Blue
- Type " " (space) after word "Blue"
- Go to Help -> About
- CTRL-SHIFT-Left click the Word icon/banner
- Use Z for left flipper, M for right flipper, and ESC to exit
- Discover what Microsoft means by "Productivity Application"
- Select Tools - Macro
- Enter spiff
- Press Edit
- Delete all lines except for the middle blank line
- Select File - Close - Yes
- Select Help - About
- Double click on the icon
- Choose the About command from PowerPoint's Help menu.
- Click on the PowerPoint icon to see animated developer credits.
The easter egg for this straightforward program is refreshingly simple to access:
- From Help, choose About Microsoft PowerPoint.
- In the About dialog, click on the icon.
The result is an animated credits list.
In addition to the usual hidden window of scrolling credits, Access 95 has a fun Magic Eight Ball easter egg.
- In the Database window, click on the Macros tab.
- Press the New button to create a new, blank macro.
- Press the Spacebar (to register a change to the macro), then save the macro with the name "Magic Eight Ball" (without the quotes).
- Choose the Toolbars command from the View menu. In the resulting dialog box, click the Customize button.
- In the Customize dialog box, choose "All Macros" from the bottom of the list box. This causes the Magic Eight Ball macro to be listed in a second list box.
- Drag the macro to the toolbar, to assign it to a toolbar button.
- Right-click on the new toolbar button and pick Choose Button Image from the menu that pops up.
- Choose the eight-ball icon from the box of images with which you are presented, and close the Customize dialog box.
The next time you are in a quandary, mentally or verbally pose a yes or no question to the computer, then press the Magic Eight Ball button for your answer.
- In Outlook, create a new contact named Ren Hoek.
- Select this contact, then choose the About command from Outlook's Help menu.
- Hold down CTRL+ALT+SHIFT and click on the dialog box's OK button.
This gets you a scrolling list of credits, notable for a number of amusing nicknames. To go to a web page that provides more information on the Outlook team, click the text at the bottom that says "Want more? Click here."
- Load the Microsoft Office 95 Shortcut Bar. (Look for its icon in your Microsoft Office directory. If you can't find it there, you'll have to install it by running setup.exe on your Office 95 CD-ROM or disks again.)
- Click the little puzzle piece in the upper left corner.
- Go to About Microsoft Office.
- Hold CTRL, and double-click the puzzle picture.
The license information becomes credits to the programmers' moms.
Here are the instructions for the Windows 95 easter egg. If you have a sound card there is also music.
- Click on the desktop with mouse button 2 - Select "New Folder" and name the folder:
and now, the moment you've all been waiting for
- Click the folder with mouse button 2 and rename it to:
we proudly present for your viewing pleasure
- Click the folder with mouse button 2 and rename it again to:
The Microsoft Windows 95 Product Team!
- Make sure that you type EXACTLY what is written above and this is case sensitive.
If you are cutting and pasting this (which is the best way) make sure there are no spaces at the end of the folder name also.
- Open the folder and enjoy!
- In the Windows Program Manager (or File Manager), go to the menu option About ...
- Press CTRL + SHIFT while doubleclicking the icon.
- Now click on OK to close the window.
- Repeat steps 1 and 2. The icon should now change into either Bill Gates, Brad Silberberg or a polar bear. Click on OK.
- Repeat steps 1 and 2 again. You should now see a scolling list with all developers' names.
There is a cool easter egg in the release version of Internet Explorer 4.0.
To find it, open the IE 4.0 Web browser and choose About "Internet Explorer" from the Help menu.
The About dialog box appears. Hold down the Control Key (CTRL) and click the IE logo in the upper right corner of the dialog.
With the Control key down, you can drag it around the dialog box.
Drag the IE logo over the globe and then to the right, so that it hits the "Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0" text.
If you do it right, the text will fly off the right side of the dialog, revealing a button labeled "Unlock".
Drop the logo you've been dragging around and click the Unlock button.
The globe will start shaking. Now, pick up the logo again (CTRL-click) and drag the it onto the globe.
A new dialog box opens and a scrolling list of credits appears.
- Open up Notepad
- Type in
- save the file as test.htm.
(It must be saved as .HTM file, so in the Save As... dialog box, make sure you have All Files selected in the Save As Type option)
- Open up test.htm in IE5...
Visual C++ 4.0 features a "flight simulator" easter egg that lets you do an animated fly-over of a virtual landscape that contains photographs of the developers. To display it, make sure the Visual C++ CD is in your PC's CD-ROM drive. Then start Visual C++, select About Developer Studio from the Help menu, and double-click the left mouse button anywhere in the About box while holding down the CTRL key. Use the arrow keys to zoom up, down, left, and right while you're in flight.
When you are stuck in a game of Solitaire, press CTRL + ALT + SHIFT while clicking on the pile of cards.
Solitaire will turn only one card instead of three.
Windows 3.X versions:
While playing, type xyzzy, then press ENTER, then SHIFT.
A small white pixel will appear in the upper left corner of the screen when the cursor is over an unmined square and then disappear when the cursor is over a mined square. It can be difficult to see the pixel if you are having a picture as background. Try using a dark color.
Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 versions:
After starting the game, hold down both mouse buttons until the smile face makes his mouth into an O, then press Escape to stop the timer. The first square clicked is never a mine.
Try the following words
Windows NT 3.51 version:
Windows NT 4.0 version:
If you are using Windows 95 OSR2, set the current screen saver to "3D Text".
Then enter volcano as the text to be displayed.
This changes way the text is floated around the screen to a fade-in/fade-out format and it diplays the names of Mountains/Volcanoes.
- From the Help menu, choose About Norton AntiVirus.
- When the dialog box appears, hold down the N, A, and V keys simultaneously.
This displays a group picture of the development team.
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This page is copyright © 1999 Marcel Lipman
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