Easter Eggs
From HowToGeek
Easter Eggs are hidden messages or features in software applications and video games. They are usually accessed by entering in a hidden code or series of keystrokes or mouse clicks.
Overview
Notable Easter Eggs
Random Text in Microsoft Word
If you enter the following text into a Word document and hit the Enter key, you will be greeted with a few paragraphs of text:
=rand()
For more information see the full article: Fun at Work: Microsoft Word Easter Egg
Flight Simulator in Microsoft Excel 97
There is a flight simulator hidden in Excel 97, not that anybody actually has that installed anymore.
Pinball Game in Microsoft Word
Open a new document, Type "Blue", Select word (Highlight), 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, and then to play the game you use Z for left flipper, M for right flipper, and ESC to exit
Google's Answer to Life the Universe and Everything
If you type in the following into google, you will receive the answer of 42 from Google's OneBox search result:
answer to life the universe and everything
Google Reader Konami Code Ninja
If you type in the Konami Code into Google Reader, you will see the background of the left pane change color with a picture of a ninja on the side, and the word Ninja! will appear in the search box.
Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right b a
Google Won't Search for Chuck Norris
If you open up google.com and type in the following search, and then hit the I'm Feeling Lucky button...
find chuck norris
You will see that Google won't search for Chuck Norris:
Of course this isn't really an Easter Egg, it's just the fake page comes up as the first result. It's still fun to show to an unsuspecting person.
Teddy Bears in Picasa
If you use the shortcut key combination Ctrl+Shift+Y in Google's Picasa tool, you'll see a teddy bear. If you press the key combination more than once, you'll see a whole bunch of them.
Easter Egg in Spybot Search & Destroy
If you click on the binoculars icon while running a scan, you will be presented with a game that you can play while the scan is running.
For more information see the full article: The SpyBot Search & Destroy Game
VLC Media Player has Santa Hat in December
Whenever it gets close to December 25th, the VLC icon has a santa hat, which you can see in the system tray or on the taskbar button. A bigger version is show in the Help \ About screen.
WinRAR 'About' window
Open WinRAR, point to Help>About WinRAR. Click the WinRAR icon (books) in the 'about' window that appears. The logo falls down !
PowerArchiver
If you click below the 'x' button but on the menu bar, a classic style 'x' button will appear. The same will happen with the maximize/restore and minimize buttons. The classic buttons work like their modern counterparts. I have only tested this on Windows 7 with Aero enabled.
Pinball (Windows XP)
Start a new game of pinball. When it is loaded, write "hidden test" (without the quotes). Then click and drag the ball anywhere you want within the table !
Impossible folders
It is impossible to create a folder in Windows named:
- CON
- NUL
- PRN
- AUX
- COM1, COM2, etc. up to and including COM9
- LPT1, LPT2, etc. up to and including LPT9
This is less of an easter egg than it is a reminder of how Windows was originally based around MS-DOS. All of these names were device or port names in DOS (some, such as LPT and COM, are still used in Windows today) and therefore having a folder with the same name would 'confuse' the OS.
You can make folders with these names with the "mkdir" or "mk" commands in command prompt but then you can't delete or move them unless you have "Unlocker" installed.
Solitaire (Windows XP)
Press Shift+Alt+2 anytime during the game to win !
Font maker
Point to Start>Run. Type "eudcedit" (without the quotes) and make fonts yourself !
To use the fonts, you must run "charmap" (without the quotes) and scroll to Private Characters. You can then copy them and use them.
Un-named folder
Create a new folder, rename it. Write 255 (and keep the 'alt' key pressed while typing 255). After typing, let go of the alt key and press enter. You'll have an un-named folder ! Remember that you cannot normally make an un-named folder (by just renaming a folder to a SPACE).
