Microsoft Windows 95...
- Point the mouse at the desktop and click the right mouse button.
Choose "New" from the resulting pop-up menu, and then choose
"Folder."
- A new folder will appear on the desktop, with the temporary name "New
Folder." Change the folder's name by typing "and now, the moment
you've all been waiting for" (do not type the quotation marks), and
pressing the Enter key.
- Point at the folder and click the right mouse button to display its pop-up
context menu. Choose the Rename command, and type "we proudly present
for your viewing pleasure" (again, without the quotation marks). Press
the Enter key.
- Once again, right-click the folder and choose the Rename command. This
time, type "The Microsoft Windows 95 Product Team!" (again,
without the quotation marks). Press the Enter key.
- Double-click on the folder to open it.
This plays a video showing the names of many of the people who worked on the
design, development, and marketing of Windows 95.
* Note: Tanaka Shinsuke, a Word Info reader from Japan, discovered that you
can access this Easter Egg in the Japanese version of Windows 95 if you replace
the original (Japanese) temporary folder name with the English name "New
Folder" before proceeding with step 2. This may work in other non-English
versions of Windows 95 as well.
Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
- In Excel, create a new worksheet.
- Press F5; in the resulting dialog box type "X97:L97" (without
the quotes) and press Enter.
- Press the Tab key.
Hold down Ctrl+Shift and click on the Chart Wizard toolbar button.
What you get at this point depends on whether or not you have Microsoft's
DirectDraw video software installed. I don't, and simply got some animated
credits. People with DirectDraw will instead enter a 3-D world in which you
navigate with the mouse, using the left mouse button to move forward and the
right mouse button to move backward.
Microsoft PowerPoint 97 for Windows
- Choose the About command from PowerPoint's Help menu.
- Click on the PowerPoint icon to see animated developer credits.
Microsoft Access 95 for Windows
In addition to the usual hidden window of scrolling credits, Access 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.
Accessing your computer's psychic powers.
Microsoft Excel 95 for Windows
Start with a new, blank workbook (if necessary, choose the New command from
the File menu). Then:
- Use the Down arrow key to reach row 95, and click on the row number to
select the entire row.
- Press the Tab key once.
- From the Help menu, choose About Microsoft Excel.
- In the About box, hold down the Shift, Ctrl, and Alt keys simultaneously
while clicking the Tech Support button.
A new window appears, containing a 3-D environment called the "Hall of
Tortured Souls." Explore the Hall by using the arrow keys: The up key moves
you forward, the down key moves you back, and the left and right keys let you
turn from side to side. (Excel's Hall of Tortured Souls).
The staircase directly in front of you leads to a room in which a scrolling pane
of credits appears on the wall.
Turn the other way and you're facing what appears to be a solid wall. Type in
the secret password "excelkfa" and the wall dissolves, leaving you in
front of an elevated walkway that leads to a room holding additional credits and
the pictures of Excel developers. (To reach the inner room, you must navigate
this walkway).
Making it down the pathway involves some good keyboard-eye coordination. One
misstep and you'll fall into a room from which there's no escape, except for
closing the window and starting all over again.
Microsoft PowerPoint 95 for
Windows
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.
Microsoft Word 95 for Windows
Start with a new, blank document (if necessary, choose the New command from the
File menu). Then:
- Being sure to capitalize the first letter, type the word "Blue"
(don't include the quotation marks).
- Select the word and use the Format menu's Font command to make the word
both bold and blue (not dark blue).
- Type a space after the word.
- Choose the Help menu's About Microsoft Word command and click on the Word
icon in the resulting dialog box.
This opens a new window that displays a scrolling list of credits. You can
press Esc to close the window, or click in the window to speed up the scrolling.
(If you do that, however, you may miss seeing your own name added near the end
of the list.)
Internet Explorer 4
- Choose the About command from the Help menu.
- Hold down the Ctrl key and left mouse click and hold on the small blue IE
logo.
- Drag the IE logo and use it to 'push' the 'Microsoft Internet Explorer
4.0' text to the right ('out of the dialog box') to expose the Unlock
button.
- Drop the IE logo and then click the Unlock button. The 'globe' logo will
become agitated.
- Now drag the IE logo and drop it on the 'globe' loge to see the globe
expand to fill the dialog, and then a new browser window appear showing a
scrolling list of credits, interspersed with the odd amusing comment.
