Microsoft’s Easter Eggs

An Easter Egg is a secret message or screen buried in an application. Typically, easter eggs are used to display the credits for the development team or to display a humorous message. To see an easter egg, you need to know a special procedure or sequence of keystrokes. Webopedia

Below are some of Microsoft’s Easter Eggs:

Excel 2000

1. Open Excel 2000.
2. Select Save as Web Page from the File menu.
3. Select Save Selection:Sheet and Add Interactivity.
4. Save the .htm file.
5. Load the .htm page with IE. You should have Excel in the middle of the page.
6. Scroll to row 2000, column WC. Select row 2000, and tab so WC is the active column.
7. Press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT and click the Office logo in the upper-left.
If you have DirectX, you will be taken to an arcade-style racing game. Use the arrow keys to drive, space to fire, O to drop oil slicks, and, when it gets dark, H for headlights. Go ahead, indulge that road rage!

Excel 97

1. Open Excel 97.
2. On a new Worksheet, Press F5.
3. Type “X97:L97” (no quotes, not case sensitive) and press Enter.
4. Press the Tab key.
5. Hold Ctrl+Shift and click the Chart Wizard button on the Standard toolbar.
You are flying above a dark, mysterious world. Use the mouse to fly around. Click the left button to go forward, or the right to go backward. Watch for the scrolling marquee on the side of a hill.

PowerPoint 2000

1. Open PowerPoint 2000.
2. Select About Microsoft PowerPoint from the Help menu.
3. Press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT and double-click the PowerPoint logo.
See the people who brought you PowerPoint 2000.

PowerPoint 97

1. Open PowerPoint 97
2. Select About Microsoft PowerPoint from the Help menu.
3. Hold Ctrl+Shift+Alt and click the horizontal line under the licensing information three times.
See the people who brought you PowerPoint 97.

Word 2000

1. Open Word2000.
2. Select About Microsoft Word from the Help menu.
3. Press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT and click the horizontal line at the bottom of the dialog box.
The Microsoft Word 2000 logo appears. Left-click it to close it.

To explore more of Microsoft’s Easter Eggs, visit DDM’s Microsoft Office Tips and Tricks!