11 Weird Windows Bugs and Easter Eggs You Have to See

Microsoft started eliminating Easter Eggs when it launched its Trustworthy Computing Initiative in 2002. But you can still find a number of hidden features and weird bugs in Windows that are almost as good as real Easter Eggs.

And while most Windows errors tend to be a pain, some are actually quite entertaining. Care to discover them with us?

Windows 7 to Windows 10 Easter Eggs

Unless mentioned otherwise, the following Easter Eggs will work in all current versions of Windows.

1. God Mode

This hidden Windows feature was first introduced with Vista and remains one of the more useful ones. God Mode How to Enable God Mode in Windows 7, 8.1, and 10 How to Enable God Mode in Windows 7, 8.1, and 10 Windows has a hidden shortcut to view all system settings at once. Here's how to easily get to God Mode. Read More , also known as Windows Master Control Panel, unlocks an unexpected overview of all Control Panel options in one single folder. If you still use the Control Panel on a regular basis, you will love this trick!

To enable God Mode, create a new folder and use the following string of characters as its name.

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Et voilà, your master control panel is ready to use.

Note: You can replace the term “GodMode” with a term of your preference.

2. Star Wars CMD Code

Star Wars CMD

The Star Wars CMD code is one of the coolest command prompt Easter Eggs. And it works on all operating systems that support Telnet and have a terminal or command line, including Windows 10. Before you can use the command, however, you have to enable Telnet.

In Windows 10, press Windows + Q, type telnet, and select Turn Windows features on or off from the results. Scroll down until you see the Telnet Client entry, check the box, and click OK. Wait for Windows to complete the requested changes, then click Close.

How to Enable Telnet Client in Windows

Now it’s time to have some fun with Telnet! Press Windows + R to launch the Run menu, type cmd, and hit Enter to open the command prompt. Now run the following command:

telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

Time to lean back and watch Star Wars in ASCII characters.

3. Slide to Shut Down

Microsoft hid an EXE file called SlideToShutDown SlideToShutdown: The Best Hidden Feature of Windows 10? SlideToShutdown: The Best Hidden Feature of Windows 10? Windows 10 is full of hidden tricks, and some of them are really cool -- like the little-known SlideToShutDown command! Read More in the C:\Windows\System32 folder. This alternative way to shut down Windows How to Shut Down Windows 10: 7 Tips and Tricks How to Shut Down Windows 10: 7 Tips and Tricks You can customize almost every Windows feature. We'll show you seven ways to improve the shutdown process. Soon you'll terminate Windows like a geek. Read More was first introduced with Windows Phone and then made it over to Windows 8. It’s great to turn off tablets, but also lets you shut down Windows on your desktop.

When you’re in tablet mode, try pressing the power button for 3-5 seconds and SlideToShutDown will self-launch. If you’re using Windows on a desktop, create a shortcut to launch this shutdown option.

4. Phone Dialer

Windows Phone Dialer

Ever since Windows 95, Windows contains a dialer app that will let you place a call through your computer’s phone port (if available). The only way to launch this utility is through calling the executable directly. Press Windows key + R, enter dialer.exe, and click OK.

5. Windows Calculator Rounding

Windows Calculator Rounding Error

To kick this one off, let’s do some basic maths together. First, try to answer the two questions below, then highlight the lines to see the answers.

What is the square root of four? It’s two, isn’t it?
And what do you get if you subtract two from two? Zero, right?

Now let’s do the above calculation using the Windows calculator 9 Neglected Windows Calculator Features to Save Your Day (and Money) 9 Neglected Windows Calculator Features to Save Your Day (and Money) The classic Windows Calculator contains many overlooked features. We bring them to light and show you how you can use this app to do math faster, process unusual calculations, and save money. Read More . Type in 4, take the square root and from the result subtract 2. What result does the Windows Calculator give you? See why they don’t want you to use calculators at school?

This bug has been around since the birth of Windows. The programmatic calculation method limits the precision of advanced calculations to 32 digits. This means that a complex calculation, like taking the square root, works with approximate numbers. For example, the calculator stores the square root of two as 1.99999… (with 32 instances of the number 9). This arbitrary-precision arithmetic (that’s its actual name!) can lead to tiny errors like the one we demonstrated above.

6. The Number of the Beast

Windows Port 666 Doom

Doom 95 was the first Windows version of the game Doom. The game used port 666, in reference to The Number of the Beast. And port 666 remains reserved for doom until this day.

To see for yourself, head to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc and open the file called services in Notepad.

7. Exit Explorer

The Windows 10 Taskbar context menu 3 Advanced Tips & Tricks For Using Windows Explorer 3 Advanced Tips & Tricks For Using Windows Explorer Windows Explorer is the default Windows file manager. Last week I introduced you to 3 easy ways to improve Windows 7 Explorer by tweaking features and using it to its full potential. In this article,... Read More contains a hidden option called Exit Explorer.

Hold Ctrl + Shift while right-clicking an empty space on the Taskbar. (If you’re running Windows 7 or lower, try right-clicking the Start Menu while pressing Ctrl + Shift.) In Windows 10, you should now see Exit Explorer as the very last item in the Taskbar context menu. This option lets you terminate the Windows File Explorer without having to go through the Task Manager.

8. Naming and Renaming Folders

Windows Naming Renaming Folders

Try to create a folder named CON and you will see the following thing happening:

The same thing happens when you try any of the following names:

PRN, AUX, LPT# (with # being a number), COM#, NUL, and CLOCK$

All of the above names are reserved for device names, meaning you cannot use them as file or folder names, regardless of the file extension. This is a relict from DOS, which has made its way through all versions of Windows, including Windows 7.

9. Microsoft Word Easter Egg

Microsoft Word Rand

This isn’t a bug, but a nicely hidden feature. Open Microsoft Word and type the following: = rand(5,10)

Microsoft Word should create 5 paragraphs of text with (in theory) 10 lines (in my example, it’s one line short). It’s nothing more than a dummy or placeholder. And depending on the numbers you pick, you can make it appear in many more paragraphs and copies. Try =rand(1,1) to show only one single placeholder sentence. The trick is also known as = rand(200,99).

The text will vary, depending on your version of Office and your primary system language. In Microsoft Word 97 through 2003 with English as the primary language, you’ll see the iconic sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” which contains all letters of the alphabet. Since Office 2007, the default text has been taken from a Word tutorial and also changed from Word 2013 to Word 2016. To bring back the iconic sentence in Word 2007, 2010, and 2013, type =rand.old() and press Enter.

If you’d rather use the standard Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet placeholder text What Is Lorem Ipsum Text and What Does It Mean? What Is Lorem Ipsum Text and What Does It Mean? What is lorem ipsum text, where did it come from, and how can you generate it yourself? We answer these questions and more. Read More , type =lorem(X) to get X paragraphs of this filler text.

Note: The Replace text as you type feature (File > Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options > AutoCorrect tab ) must be turned on for this feature to work.

Windows XP Easter Eggs

Microsoft has fixed a few of the weird bugs we’ve covered in the past. Here are two that didn’t survive in subsequent Windows versions.

10. Bush Hid the Facts

Bush Hid the Facts

This Windows Notepad bug doesn’t work in Windows Vista or Windows 7, but if you’re still running Windows XP, give it a try.

Launch Notepad and type the following sentence: Bush hid the facts

Now save the file as anything you like, close it and open it again. What do you see?

If you did this in Windows XP, you’d see some weird Unicode characters or Chinese characters like in the screenshot above.

The explanation for this bug lies in the Windows function “IsTextUnicode”. The sequence of one four-letter, two three-letter, and finally one five letter word creates a so-called mojibake; Windows thinks it’s dealing with Chinese Unicode and when you save the document encodes it as such. When you re-open the document, it then displays Chinese characters, rather than the sentence you had entered.

11. Windows Solitaire Bug

Here is another bug that appears to be fixed in Windows 7. Please try it if you have Windows XP.

Open Solitaire and click the following key combination: Alt + Shift + 2

What happens is that the game ends right there and you see the cards falling to the front as they do when a game is completed successfully.

Happy Easter Egg Hunting in Windows

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Explore more about: Easter Eggs, Windows 10.