9 replies to this topic

[Omniscient]

Quote

Here are 3 weird facts about Windows:
1. Nobody can create a folder named
\"Con\".

Try to create anywhere on your hard disk
a folder called \"Con\" (without the
quotes). Go to a location on your hard
disk, right click, choose \"New\" and then
select \"Folder\" from the menu that
appears. Name the folder \"Con\" (without
quotes) and hit Enter. You?ll see that
the folder won?t be named \"Con\". It will
be \"New folder\"

2. A text file made with Notepad, with
the following content : \"Bush hid the
facts\" (without quotes) won?t display
the actual text.

Go to Start -> Programs -> Accessories
-> Notepad . Write in Notepad the
following text : \"Bush hid the facts\"
(without quotes) then Save the file and
exit Notepad. Now go to the text file
you created and open it. You?ll see that
the text you just wrote and save won?t
show.


3. Write in Word this : \"=rand(200,99)\"
(without the quotes) and witness the
magic.

Open Microsoft Word and on the first
line write : \"=rand(200,99)\" (without
the quotes) and hit Enter key. See the
magic.

Notice from rvalkass:

Anything copied must be quoted.

[Vistz]

Hm. That's interesting. Now when you're typing the text, are you including this character" "/"? If you are, that may be an escape character. I know that in Java, when you type "\", the compiler will ignore the character directly following it.

[rob86]

I think tricking someone into typing /con/ or something caused a blue screen (freeze up) on earlier versions of windows. Another weird fact is that one of the commands used by modems to communicate is +++ATH0, the hang-up code. You used to be able to disconnect someone simply by sending them something with that command in it. Even simply sending them an Instant Message. It was rough -- but fun -- in the early days of the internet .

[vhortex]

You can't create any kind of file named con. This is a reserved file handle (filename for windows) which points to output (screen, printer and other output media). Some system uses it both for output and input. You can freeze up a computer by issuing a set command to make CON equal to NULL.

There are at least 9 easter egg stuff included on notepad and 3 on wordpad.

[mahesh2k]

Exactly. These are easter eggs and are included in most of the windows software be it from microsoft or from others. There are few such easter eggs on linux as well. Microsoft office also has some of the good easter eggs. Some easter eggs in office and excel allows users to play games or show some funny things. Excel games are popular easter eggs that people have figured out and enjoyed that i know.

[Quatrux]

I never knew that you can use =rand(2,20) and hit enter in Word and get some random text you need, sometimes it's quite useful if you need to fill up your document with text

The one with CON is quite old, the same is with PRN, AUX and NUL.

Because it means: CONSOLE, PRINTER and AUXILLARY devices.

Here is a good quote:

Quote

Many people have asked me this question,"Why can’t we Create a Folder by name CON in Microsoft Windows or MS-DOS?"

Answer is quite simple. Because CON is a reserved word. Like CON, there are many other reserved words and every reserved word has got its own meaning to it. I have made a list of reserved words and their meanings. They are :-

CON - it stands for the “CONSOLE” I/O device (The display monitor).

PRN - It stands for printer. LPT1 is taken as default.

AUX - It stands for Auxiliary device.

COM0, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, COM5, COM6, COM7, COM8, COM9 - They stands for serial ports.

LPT1, LPT2 - They stands for Parallel ports.

NUL - It stands for Bid Bucket.

Directories/Folders in fact are just different filenames More about filenames: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filename

Also here is something about Easter eggs for Microsoft products: http://en.wikipedia....rosoft_products

[mahesh2k]

There are some good easter eggs on microsoft products. I found pinball for office 97 and i'm sure many 97 users already knows about it. There are some games in excel as well and those games may or may not be easter eggs but purposefully kept and are undocumented.

You can find more easter eggs on microsoft word here. I'll post more links if i get any good resource to share on easter eggs. Post non-microsfot easter eggs if you know any.

[Iniyila]

Microsoft Windows has many easter eggs some of them are bugs.
The biggest easter egg i have seen is this one in "Saint's Row 2" Game:

Quote

In the North Shore Marina District, there is a building with shops on the water front called the North Shore Marina Super Mall. There is a large glass tunnel that goes straight through the middle of this building with the shadows of fish swimming behind the glass.

Inside this tunnel around the corner with the vending machine is a door which can be opened. Go in this door up a flight of stairs and in another door, which is red, at the top of the stairs.

You will find yourself in an office like room, full of desks and computors. On the wall "The Game Studio" is witten along with the Volition "V" logo, and a picture of one of the game designers
posing with a gun.

you can find others on eeggs.com .

Edited by Iniyila, 31 October 2010 - 10:54 AM.

[Illustrious]

I tried the one with the notepad. I typed in "Bush hid the facts", saved it, opened it again and the file displayed squares. I thought my netbook froze when I tried the Microsoft Word trick. It generated 235 pages of junk I love easter eggs.

[Xarex]

I love Easter Eggs too. Although I'm not too familiar with the Windows or even Mac ones, Google certainly has some of the best. If you type in what is the answer to life, the universe, and everything.. you get 42. Just many different things to explore.

Maybe I should put some on my website!