Windows 95 is the easter egg discovered after more than 25 years

Everyone loves easter eggs, and the computing world is full of them. From video games to normal software it is in fact common to find several, and some of them are better hidden than others. In particular, we are talking about an easter egg in Windows 95 that has been hidden for 25 years .

The easter egg in question is present in a particular Windows 95 program that we would never have imagined: Internet Mail , the ancestor of Microsoft Outlook (renamed in this way since 2007).

The Windows 95 ester egg: how do you activate it?

To find out was Albacore , famous for his adventures related to the Windows world. The easter egg in question allows you to open an additional window with a (scrolling) list containing all the names of the developers who worked on the software in question, that is, Windows 95 Internet Mail.

“ It's never too late to find an easter egg. I happen to notice what looks like a never-before-seen easter egg in Windows 95 / IE4 Internet Mail. You need to open its About window, select one of the files and type MORTIMER. The names of the program developers will start scrolling "

Easter eggs are the result of moments of leisure of developers working on a certain software. It is not uncommon, in fact, that a hidden secret function, a message or even a real mini-game is inserted, which users can discover by performing particular actions in a program. Usually they try to hide them more or less well, but this time maybe they have exaggerated .

To activate the Easter Egg, you need to follow a few simple steps: start the program and click on “Help”, then on Information. Once the Information screen opens, click on the comctl32.dll file listed to highlight it and type MORTIMER on your keyboard.

A little history and the creation of the "Start button"

Microsoft Windows 95, also known by the code name of Chicago, is one of the Microsoft systems, compatible with Intel 80386 or higher processor. Released on August 24, 1995 and marketed until 2001, it is the first 16/32 bit graphic interface hybrid operating system in the Windows 9.x family.

It immediately had great success among personal computer users, allowing Microsoft to definitively establish itself on the operating system market. It thus assumed a dominant position also in the years to come (as we all know).

What allowed it to spread among users and decree its success was the innovative graphics , which greatly simplified the use of the computer. This was a plus over previous versions and other competing operating systems. Not only this, the price was also a game changer compared to competitors, much more affordable than more expensive OSes like Apple's.

Windows 95 is also the first version of Windows where the very famous “Start menu” was introduced . In fact, the market launch of Windows 95 was accompanied by an important advertising campaign which on television had the Rolling Stones song " Start Me Up " as a musical accompaniment, a song that alluded to the very new functionality.

The design of Windows 95 was the result of a specific study by a team of experts , a group of experts including graphic designers, software programmers and experts in the psychology of perception. A point of success was also the direct consideration of end users, registered in the lists of Windows beta-testers, whose opinion was had the utmost consideration.

The Windows 95 article and the easter egg discovered after more than 25 years comes from Tech CuE | Close-up Engineering .