Windows XP Easter Eggs & Tricks

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Usability Tweaks - XP

Friday, 14 December 2007

Windows XP Easter Eggs There are a few easter eggs and hidden things in Windows XP. I've scoured the internet to document all of them into one large list, so here you go. Enjoy!

System Protected Folders

Ever notice that in the Program Files folder there are two folders that you can't delete? Xerox and Microsoft Frontpage?

Reserved files and folders

You can't create a folder called CON, AUX, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, PRN or NUL.

Notepad glitch

Notepad has a strange glitch with some combinations of words. It happens when you open notepad, type in certain phrases, save the file, close and open the file, and the document is magically changed. This got popular with a certain conspiracy theory phrase of "bush hid the facts", making it appear that your operating system is keeping you from your freedom of speech. The funny thing though is that it also changes phrases like "bill fed the goats" and "hhhh hhh hhh hhhhh". It's some sort of Unicode error with 4, 3, 3, and 5 letter words seperated by spaces. The system apparently detects some combinations as unreadable characters.

Shutdown trick

Click Start - Turn off Computer, and hold the Shift key, this turns the Stand By button into the Hibernate button.

Hidden Devices

Open the Control Panel, open the System icon, and click on the Hardware tab. Open Device Manager, select View and Show Hidden Devices.

Phantom Devices

To see devices not currently connected to your computer, do the following. Click Start - Run and type cmd to open the command prompt, and hit Enter or OK. In the command prompt, type set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 and hit Enter. Select View and Show Hidden Devices.

Hidden Control Panel Extensions

Download, install, and run TweakUI. Open Control Panel in TweakUI and check any item that is not selected, then hit Apply and OK. You'll now see the hidden control panel extensions that you can't see by default.

Hidden Candy Cane Pipes Screen Saver

This one is kind of silly, but amusing. Get into the holiday season with this uber geek candy cane screen saver.

1. Go to Control Panel
2. Click on Display
3. Click on Screensaver
4. Select 3D pipes
5. Select settings
6. Select textured and choose texture
7. Don't actually choose any texture, just click cancel.
8. Then click OK!

Hidden NetMeeting

NetMeeting is built into XP, but it's not in the Start Menu anywhere. Go to Start - Run, type conf and hit OK

Play movies in MSPaint

This can actually be done in any imaging type software, even Photoshop. Play a dvd movie on your computer, and take a screen shot while it's playing (print screen button). Now open up MSPaint and paste the screen shot into the application, and you won't see a screen shot of the movie, it will appear to play inside of MSPaint. You have no control of the movie ofcourse, but it's still pretty amusing.

Image Trails in MSPaint

Open an image, hold down the Shift key, then drag the image around to create an image trail.

10x Zoom in MSPaint

Open an image and select the magnifying glass icon. Left click exactly on the line below 8x to activate the hidden 10x zoom function.

Windows Post-Installation Song

If you liked the transient music that plays after you successfully install Windows XP, you can find it again in the following location - C:\Windows\system32\oobe\images\title.wma (some say it might be called "Windows Welcome Music.wma"

Media Player 6.4 (Classic) is still hanging around

After Windows Media Player 7, Microsoft made the classic media player a separate executable. Go to Start - Run and type mplayer2 and hit OK. This player supports the latest codecs, and can be ran in multiple instances, unlike the newer players.

Hidden Defrag Command Line Switch

Go to Start - Run, type defrag c: -b to defragment the Boot and Application prefetch locations. Windows XP schedules this function automatically every few days, so this is only really necessary for you UBER geeks out there... you know who you are.

Minesweeper Tricks

Reveal Mines - Minimize or close all running applications. Open up Minesweeper, then type xyzzy. Hold down either shift key for a second, then when you move the mouse cursor over a Minesweeper square you will see a small white pixel in the top left corner of your desktop that will change to black when your mouse moves over a mine.

Stop Timer - Open Minesweeper and start a game, then press the Windows Key + D to show the desktop. Now click on Minesweeper in the taskbar and you'll be playing with the timer stopped.

Freecell Tricks

Instant Win - Hold down Ctrl + Shift + F10 during the game and you will be asked if you want to abort, retry, or ignore. Choose abort then move any card to instantly win.. wow that's fun huh?

Hidden Game Modes - In the Game menu choose Select Game and enter -1 or -2 to activate the hidden (and seemingly impossible) game modes.

Pinball Tricks

1. At the start of a new ball type 1max to get extra balls.
2. At the start of a new game type gmax to activate the Gravity Well.
3. At the start of a new game type rmax to go up in ranks.
4. At the start of a new ball type bmax to get unlimited balls. This trick disables all other cheats until you restart the game.

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