A secret hidden 25 years ago in Windows 95 was revealed by a software developer. THE easter egg it was hidden in Internet Mail, an e-mail client native to the operating system, and, when activated, it displays the credits related to those responsible for the application, in the style of the scrolls seen in the cinema and similar to another game of the type, which had already been discovered on the platform.
The discovery was made by the reverse engineering specialist Albacore, who believes that this is the first time that the easter egg is displayed in practice. To access the list of credits, simply access the Help menu of the native email program and then select the “About” option. Then, it was enough to select the first DLL file displayed in a list and type the word “mortimer” on the keyboard for the secret window to open to display the names of those responsible for the software.
In addition to those responsible, the easter egg reveals preliminary names of the e-mail program, which internally appeared to be called Athena or Thor. The window with the names closes after the end of the credit roll, which displays not only the developers, but also those responsible for testing Internet Mail and those who provided support or assistance to the solution that, for many people, represented the first contact with email communication.
It’s never too late to find easter eggs. Happened to notice what looks like a never before seen easter egg in Windows 95’s / IE4’s Internet Mail. You have to open its About window, select one of the files, and type MORTIMER. Names of the program’s developers will start scrolling. pic.twitter.com/13ZCdCyBUg
– Albacore (@thebookisclosed) March 26, 2021
It is worth mentioning, too, that this is a version similar to a easter egg which displays the general Windows 95 credits. Activation, in this case, is longer, requiring the creation of a folder that must be renamed three times with the following titles, in the sequence: “and now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for “,” we proudly present for your viewing pleasure “and” The Microsoft Windows 95 Product Team! ” The result is a secret window with a soundtrack and the names of everyone involved in the creation of the platform.
According to Albacore, the discovery of this type of secret is part of the reverse engineering work, never being obtained by chance. According to him, the clue that indicated the presence of the credits screen was obtained from a DLL file of the system, which, when analyzed, indicated that the program would respond to the typing of the magic word.
In his Twitter account, the developer has also published other findings related not only to Windows 95, but also other versions of the operating system. The analyzes involve old versions of icons that are still present in the platform codes, indications of unimplemented resources and other hidden items.
