Windows Vista Easter Egg Discovered
April 1st, 2007
[NOTE : This post originally appeared on April 1, 2007, and was an April Fools Day joke. Vista does not include a copy of BOB, but if you scroll down to the comments, one of my readers has posted a link to a download of the original BOB installer if you really want to run it.]
It turns out that the folks over in Redmond might have a sense of humor after all. I was working on getting my new install of Vista Ultimate up and running on my machine this weekend, and stumbled across this awesome easter egg.
It turns out that there’s an entire functional copy of the 1995 Microsoft BOB operating system hidden inside of Windows Vista. BOB was supposed to be an easy-to-use interface for Windows 3.2, complete with fuzzy animated characters (who eventually led to “Clippy” the paper clip in Microsoft Office.)
Here’s how I managed to activate it:
First, you need to make sure you have full administrative permissions on your machine. Then, go to the Start menu and enter “W.0.w.B.0.b.” (note that those are Zeros not Os) while holding down the Alt key. Then, set your system time zone to “Cairo”. The next time you reboot, type in the same phrase backwards and you’ll be in the Windows Bob environment, complete with all of the original features. Once BOB is activated you can set your clock back to your regular time zone.
Surprisingly, the new version of BOB has been updated to include integration with Outlook 2007, so you can actually see your calendar entries and e-mails in the BOB organizer. Post back and let me know which character is your favorite. Personally, I like Scuzz the Rat.
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Categories: Computing Just Plain Fun
Tags: bob easter egg microsoft operating system os vista windows
Now that April 1st is over, I guess I can say it…
April Fools!
Nice.
[...] if I’ve never been excited about Vista before, I retract that. Vista comes with a hidden Microsoft BOB easter egg in it. I actually liked BOB a lot. This is reason enough for me to think about Vista, honestly. [...]
This egg doesn’t work, or your instructions are missing some detail. You say you just “stumbled” upon it?
Scroll up to comment #1. This was an April Fools joke.
Sorry if you wasted time doing it.
You Can Download Microsoft BOB From
This Site
http://winhistory.de/downloads/dateien/MSBOB.EXE
This is the reason I /hate/ using the Internet on April fool’s day. June 15, 2007 is /not/ April fool’s day! You should take this offline after 4/1! Also, why not put a BIG notice up if you insist on keeping old content on your site?
John: Sorry about that. I’m gonna add a note to the top of the article too (not just the one at the beginning of the comments).
it didn’t work on me.. I’ve tried like 10 times it’s frustrating…
Read the top of the post. This was an April Fool’s Joke.
you got me here
dang ive tried thrice
Gosh!!!!! It worked .. thanks for posting that easter egg.. I appreciate it a lot… yiipeeeee!!!!
How did you do it??? other than the above mentioned which is a joke and my method?(see my blog http://msbobreturns.blogspot.com/)
Slax, you can do it? It is April Joke Fools!
They moved the download!
It’s now at:
http://downloads.winhistory.de/dateien/bob/MSBOB.EXE
Thanx!!!!
Funny Joke by the way!!!!
Grow a sense of humor, John Marcus. If you didn’t check the date of the post it isn’t the author’s fault.
rofl. you got me too…had me going there. Last time i ever try anything before reading the comments!
dude i tried downloading it and now my comp wont stop crashing!!!!!!!!!!!! plz respond with how to stop it!!!!!!!!!
Is there anyway of removing it or deleting it at all?
I’ve tried it 150 times it doesn’t work,,,, HELP
LOL.. i think the big “April 1″ on the calender is enough..
I assume that if BOB was really running, there would be some kind of running indicator. In the taskbar, perhaps? Nice joke though.
John Marcus, seriously.. Don’t blame the internet for what day things are made. Do you pick up an old newspaper, read it then whine to the news paper editor that it is out of date? You sir, are an idiot.
You tried 150 times? You just can’t fix stupid.
just because he can’t fix he’s stupid… I mean, I loaded it!
Funny joke, it’s a shame that no one has find a real easter egg, but please people, recognize it’s a great joke, has almost 2 years and still people fall in it.
Never used MSBob, but I had some fun with a “Bubba for Windows” that mocked it.
I tried this 4 times and this dosn’t work!
Read all the comments. This was an APRIL FOOLS post.
I used to pull tricks like this back when I worked for Disney.
That’s the Desktop Image!!!
I clicked both links to download the BOB file but i couldn’t find it at both..
I really enjoy an April Fools gag that lasts over 3 years!
go to my blog: http://msbobreturns.blogspot.com
and also I was logged on as an Administrator
tried, but link’s dead
poor, quick launch bar!!! too many links