Privacy, Security & Virus Information

Easter Eggs and Viruses

Given that Microsoft is the biggest software company out there, it's no surprise that the company and the concept of Easter Eggs go hand and hand.

By the way, an Easter Egg is actually a piece of computer code that is deliberately hidden by its creator, usually within a software application, as a source of amusement. It was said to have originated with early computer code programmers, many at Microsoft, who would surprise their colleagues with weird messages, or events, set to occur at certain times; a sort of weird geeky in-joke. The term was coined after the pastime of hunt the Easter Egg.

And Easter Eggs are not computer viruses. Although they share some of the same characteristics, Easter Eggs are basically a well-meaning joke. They do not set out to damage, cause mayhem, or steal money, or personal details.

Mind you, one man's Easter Egg might be another man's virus, so when it comes to computer software - especially downloads for your computer - always be careful what you are using. Always make sure you have an up-to-date anti-virus checker and if you're in doubt, then don't risk it.

Remember that Easter Eggs are usually embedded and are hard to find - that's the idea behind them. So anything that proclaims itself to be an Easter Egg, is not an Easter Egg.

But lets have a quick look at the history of the Easter Egg and Microsoft.

One of the earliest known examples was the Microsoft Bear which became the mascot of the team of programmers who wrote the code for Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. The simple bear drawing actually acted as an icon for a number of system files and files without a function, apart from naming top Microsoft executives. It was rumoured though that the Bear was actually a virus and although it was actually a harmless joke, it did start the belief in many peoples' minds that Easter Eggs and viruses are one and the same thing.

In Windows 95, more animals cropped up, with the Bunny joining the bear. And although again they were quite harmless bits of code, the 32-bit Bunny as it was lovingly described (you have to possibly be a computer programmer to get the joke), could operate various functions on the Windows 95 interface.

Word for Windows 2 contains a WordPerfect Monster which although nowadays is a very simple piece of animation, centred around a fireworks display, it did actually require a 486 computer (remember those?).

Within Office 6.0's Excel, things got a bit more sophisticated, with a mini-computer game called The Hall of Tortured Souls putting in an appearance. Close to the Doom genre, it was certainly a surprise to those that came across it.

And by the time Office 97 was launched, the tradition of hiding games within an application had been established. Tucked away inside 97 Excel was a flight simulator and inside Word, a pinball game.

With Office 2000, things began to hot up, with Excel 2000 containing a game called Dev Hunter. It's a 3-D game, based on Spy Hunter and is controlled using the arrow keys, the spacebar and the H and O keys.

Now, in the tradition of Easter Eggs, it's always more fun to discover them by accident. But, to give an example of how they are accessed, here's the secret route behind Dev Hunter, part of Excel 2000. Right, concentrate a moment:

firstly, open a new Excel book;

secondly, find File Menu and pick Save as Webpage;

you'll see a dialog box for Save As. Choose Selection: Sheet and then check the Add Interactivity box;

then click Publish (don't worry about file name)'

a Publish dialog box appears - click the Publish button again;

a .htm file should have been created in Internet Explorer - open it and you should have before you a blank page, complete with an Excel spreadsheet;

right, nearly there. Go to the cell in row 2000, the WC column;

now this cell should be the first cell on the left, so align the spreadsheet accordingly;

then select the whole row, with the WC column cell sub-selected. Note that it should be white, whereas the remainder of the row will be light purple in colour;

finally, left-click on the Office logo whilst holding down the Shift, Control and Alt keys;

and there you have it.

Right, so Easter Eggs have a strong tradition and are contained within many genres, not just computer software. But, when it comes to an application that you either load via a CD, or download off the net, just make sure your anti-virus programme is helping you not to be stuck with an Easter Egg in wolves clothing.

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