compiled by Brian Kendig (bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU)
Seventh revision, 16 April 1992.
Please report corrections to me, no matter how insignificant!
You may (of course!) distribute information about these tricks freely, but please keep my name on this list if you pass it around whole. New info about tricks will be attributed and very much appreciated.
A "trick" (aka "cookie" or "easter egg") is something amusing or
otherwise nonproductive that won't appear unless you do some action you wouldn't normally do. I've also included a few interesting tips about such things as the Map control panel that are useful but (as far as I know) undocumented (or put in the manuals where nobody'll read about them), and if an application has an especially neat About box, I'll probably put it here too.
- Contents: Hardware, System, Other Software, Useful Things -
Thanks to the people who have written similar lists, from which I've gotten plenty of ideas: J. D. Sterling Babcock and Mike Kimura, among others.
The list has grown to such a size that I can't personally verify every trick here, so if you just can't get something to work, please tell me!
The information below includes what to do to make a trick happen, then what the trick really is. If you don't want the trick spoiled (you don't want to know what it does until you try it yourself), you can display only the instructions for making it happen (the lines that begin with an equals-sign) with the Unix command
grep '^' tricks
where "tricks" is the name of this file. (Or, have your favorite Mac text editor remove all lines that don't begin with an equals sign.)
From the debugger, enter "G 40E118" (that's a zero, not an oh).
(To get into the debugger, press the button on the left side of your machine closer to the back. If you're running System 7, you might have to crash your machine first before it'll let you into the debugger.)
This gives you a tiny "Stolen from Apple Computer" message in the upper left-hand corner of your screen.
Macintosh SE:
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From the debugger, enter "G 41D89A". (See the trick above for info on how to get into the debugger.)
Four bitmap pictures of the Macintosh development team appear as a slideshow. Reboot (hit the button on the left side of the machine closer to the front, with the triangle on it) to get out of the endless cycle.
Also, try entering "G 4188A4" into the debugger.
This gives you a tiny "Stolen from Apple Computer" message in the upper left-hand corner of your screen.
(Contributed by J. D. Sterling Babcock)
Macintosh Classic:
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Hold down Command-Option-x-o right after you turn on or reboot the machine.
The Classic starts up from a minimal ROM-disk which contains System 6.0.3, Finder 6.1x, and AppleShare. (This version of the System is not recommended to run the Classic under.) If you look at the ROM-disk with a program able to see invisible files (like ResEdit or MacTools), you'll find folders hidden there bearing the names of the Classic designers. (The keys `X' and `O' were chosen because the development code-name of the Classic was the "Mac XO".)
Macintosh IIci:
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Set the system date to 9/20/89 (the release date of the IIci), and set your monitor to 8-bit color. Restart while holding Command-Option-c-i.
You'll see a color picture of the IIci design team. Click the mouseto continue.
Macintosh IIfx:
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Set the system date to 3/19/90 (the release date of the IIfx), and restart while holding down Command-Option-f-x.
You'll see a color picture of the IIfx design team. Click the mouse to continue.
Apple Fax Modem:
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While holding down the button on the front panel, turn on the modem. The modem will beep three times. After the three beeps, press the button again three times, timed exactly in "rhythm" with the beeps.
If your timing is correct, the modem will speak the digitally-recorded voices of the three developers saying their names ("Peter, Alan, Neal"). (Contributed by Neal Johnson and Alex Rosenberg)
Multifinder 1.0 (distributed with System Software prior to 6.0)
Hold down Command and Option while selecting "About Multifinder" from the bottom of the Apple menu. A scrolling list of credits appears.
(Contributed by Seth Theriault)
Multifinder 6.0:
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Select "About Multifinder" and leave the dialog up for about an hour or more. (Yes, this means you can't use your machine meanwhile...)
A message will appear:
"I want my"
"I want my"
"I want my l--k and f--l"
You can also see this message if you snoop around in the 'STR#' resources of Multifinder for a while with ResEdit. (Contributed by Tony Cooper and James Boswell)
System 6.0.7 or 7.0:
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Take a look through the data fork of the System File (with MacSnoop or MacTools, or open it with MS Word). (It's short.)
The string "Help! Help! We're being held prisoner in a system software factory!" is at the end of the data fork.
(Contributed by Kevin Bolduan)
System 6.0.7J (Kanjitalk):
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Set the clock to January 1, 1992, and restart.
The startup screen says "Happy new year" in Japanese. (Contributed by Junio Hamano)
Finder 7.0:
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Hold down Option while choosing "About This Macintosh".
(The menu option changes to "About the Finder", and if balloon help is turned on, the balloon now reads "Displays a dialog with the original Finder picture.") The original picture of the mountains from System 1.0 appears. If the creation date of the invisible "Desktop Folder" is May 13, 1991, or later, the names of all the Finder developers through Mac and Lisa history also scroll by. Hold down Command-Option while choosing "About" to get a goofy-face cursor.
Caches 7.0.1:
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Option-click on the version number in the upper right-hand corner.
The "040" icon will whoosh over, revealing the name of the programmer.
Caps Lock 7.0.1 (on a PowerBook):
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Turn on balloon help and point to the Caps Lock file icon.
The balloon help reads: "This file allows your Macintosh TIM or Derringer to display an icon..." (These were the working names of the PowerBooks; Apple forgot to change the extension before System 7.0.1 was released!)
(Contributed by Seth Theriault and Fabian Hahn)
Color Control Panel 7.0:
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Click on the Sample Text a few times.
The strings "by Dean Yu" "& Vincent Lo" alternate.
Labels Control Panel 7.0:
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Delete all the label names in the Labels control panel, and reboot.
The labels are now "None," "a", "l", "a", "n", "j", "e", "f".
Map Control Panel 1.x (released with System 6) and 7.0:
Type MID as the city name, and click Find. Also try: clicking on the version number, option-clicking on Find, opening the control panel while you hold down shift and/or option, clicking somewhere in the Map and dragging off the edge of it, or copying the map from the Scrapbook and pasting it while the Map control panel is open.
The stored point MID is actually "Middle of Nowhere", an insignificant location in the middle of the South Atlantic. (This one was added in version 7.0.)
Clicking on the "7.0" puts "v7.0, by Mark Davis" into the city namefield until you release the mouse button.
Option-clicking on Find repeatedly will take you alphabetically to every city the Map knows.
Opening the control panel while you hold down the shift key will display a magnified map (the resolution is the same, so it's very jagged). Opening it with option held down magnifies it more, and shift-option magnifies it even more to the point of being really blocky.
Dragging off the edge of the map will scroll around the world. You can paste a new picture into the control panel; the Scrapbook that comes with System 7 includes a particularly good color map. (Contributed by Takeshi Miyazaki and Doc O'Leary)
Memory Control Panel 7.0 (on a machine capable of virtual memory):
Turn on virtual memory and hold down Option while clicking on the pop-up menu used to choose a hard drive for your swapfile.
This brings up a hierarchical pop-up menu with the names of the programmers; each name points to a submenu with a few comments. (Contributed by Povl Hessellund Pedersen)
Monitors Control Panel 7.0:
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Click the version number (7.0) in the control panel window. While you hold down the mouse button, tap Option several times.
When you click, a box pops up with the names of the people who wrote Monitors. Pressing Option makes the smiley face stick out its tongue. After tapping Option several times, the names begin to get rearranged and some first and last names get replaced with "Blue" or "Meanies".
Puzzle Desk Accessory 7.0:
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You can copy the picture of two linked squares from the Scrapbook and paste it into the Puzzle.
In fact, you can paste any picture into the Puzzle, and it will be sized to fit. You can also copy the picture from the Puzzle and look at the clipboard to see what it will look like solved. (Contributed by Povl H. Pedersen)
Finder 7.0 and MacsBug:
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Turn on Balloon Help and point to the MacsBug file.
The balloon reads: "This file provides programmers with information proving that it really was a hardware problem..."
QuickTime 1.0:
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Turn on Balloon Help and point to the QuickTime file.
The balloon reads: "time n. A nonspatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past to the present to the future."
Hold down the Option key and select "About Photoshop".
A dialog crediting "Knoll Software" as the original designers appears.
(Contributed by Karl-Koenig Koenigsson)
Claris CAD:
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Hold down the Option key and select "About Claris CAD".
A system configuration summary appears.
(Contributed by Karl-Koenig Koenigsson)
Dark Castle:
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Try playing the game on December 25 (or set your system's clock to that date, and play the game).
A Christmas tree appears in the main foyer.
(Contributed by Philip Craig)
DART (Apple's Disk Archiving and Retrieval):
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Select "About DART", and click on the picture of the dartboard.
A credits animation will play; clicking on the text area while the credits are displaying will make them go by faster.
(Contributed by Oliver Breidenbach)
Disinfectant:
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Select "About Disinfectant", and hold a menu down to pause the advancing virus names while the music plays (to prevent the foot from arriving too soon and stopping the music).
A bitmap photo of John Norstad appears in one half of the dialog, while in the other half an animated sequence of virus names march out while the Monty Python theme song plays, until they get stomped by a huge foot. Holding down a menu pauses the viruses -- but not the music, and if you hold the menu down long enough, the entire theme song (John Philip Sousa's "Liberty Bell March") will play! (You may have to release the mouse button every now and then if the music does stop.) (Contributed by Dave Claytor and Mitchell Marmel)
FaxMaker (the fax utility that comes with the PowerBook 170):
The arrow pointer changes into a mouse, and a scrolling list of the developers appears.
(Contributed by Fabian Hahn)
FlashWrite II:
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Hold down Option as you select "About FlashWrite II" under the "star" logo. A Mr. Mojo Risin' quotation appears.
(Contributed by Dave Claytor)
HyperCard 2.x :
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Hold down Option as you select "About Hypercard...".
You get (in 2.1 only) a dialog describing your system setup, and (in either 2.0 or 2.1) the chooser name, if you've entered one, appears in the "HyperCard by" title. (That is, if you entered "Joe Cool" as your name in the Chooser (6.0) or Sharing Setup (7.0), the top of the window will read "HyperCard by Joe Cool".
Also, on a Quadra, you will be told your system is a "Macintosh Macintosh".
(Thanks to Seth Theriault for more info.)
Installer 3.1 (not the one that comes with System 7):
After dismissing the initial welcome dialog, type "ski".
A humorous list of the developers will appear, and you will be able to choose from five wait-cursors: the hand with the moving fingers (standard), a spinning globe, the familiar spinning disc, the even more familiar wristwatch, and dots that move.
(Contributed by John DeRosa and John Hawkinson)
Here's another: Hold down command and option while the Easy Install screen is up.The Help button becomes "About", and clicking on it brings up a fewscreens of credits.
(Contributed by Matthew Russotto)
Jam Session:
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Choose "About Jam Session".
The credits are displayed on the label of a record, and you can hear it click (as an old record does after it's played to the end). When you click the mouse to dismiss the dialog, you hear the scratching noise of the needle being lifted off the record.
(Contributed by Joe Campbell)
KiwiEnvelopes! 3.1:
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Choose "About KiwiEnvelopes!".
A letter is deposited into a mail truck which then rolls off the screen. After it leaves, a marquee shows the names of the development team.
(Contributed by Dave Claytor)
MacDraw Pro:
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Hold down Option while selecting "About MacDraw Pro".
The dialog shows your system setup.
(Contributed by Dave Claytor)
MacPaint 2.0 (only the first few copies, before Claris caught it):
Hold down Tab and Space while choosing "About MacPaint".
A bitmap of a well-known painting of a nude zebra-striped woman atop a white zebra appears.
Metamorphosis Professional 2.0:
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Hold down Command and Option while selecting "About Metamorphosis Pro".
A "Tussle Pro" (whatever that is!) is displayed.
(Contributed by David Loebell)
Microsoft Excel 3.0:
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Open a new spreadsheet, then go to cell IV16384. (Press Cmd-Right
then Cmd-Down to jump there.) Use the scroll bars to scroll down and right more until only that cell is showing, then set that cell's width and height both to 0. All that will remain in your window will be the little square in the upper-left-hand corner that you normally click on to select the entire spreadsheet; click on it.
The contents of the window will be replaced by a little Lotus-stomping then a list of Excel's programmers and beta-testers. When your normal Excel window comes back, scroll away to keep the show from repeating. (Contributed by Evan Torrie)
Here's another: set the style of any cell to "excel" (by selecting "Format Styles..." and typing "excel" without the quotes). Then choose "About Excel..." from the Apple menu and click on the big Excel icon.
A brief animation ("So good, it hurts.") alternates with the names of the developers ("Recalc or Die!").
(Contributed by Rob Griffiths)
Microsoft Word 3.01 and 4.x:
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Spellcheck the word "childcare".
The spell-checker will suggest one word: "kidnaper" (sic).
(Contributed by Adam Shostack)
Microsoft Word 4.0:
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Select "About Microsoft Word" and command-click on the Word icon.
The resulting dialog gives the names of beta-testers.
Norton Utilities 1.1:
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Command-click the little rhomboid just in front of the string "Version 1.1" in the About box.
A list of the developers appears.
(Contributed by Karl-Koenig Koenigsson)
PageMaker 3.02:
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Hold down Shift while you select "About PageMaker."
A list of "PageMaker's Makers" is displayed.
(Contributed by J. D. Sterling Babcock)
QuicKeys 2:
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Open the macro definition window, and click on the logo to bring up a credits window. Wait for about half a minute.
A bunny walks across the window beating a drum. After it crosses, the message "QuicKeys keeps on going!" is displayed. (Contributed by Kenny Wong)
Ragtime 3.1:
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Hold down Command and Option as you select "About Ragtime."
The signatures of the developers are displayed.
(Contributed by J. D. Sterling Babcock)
Remember? DA:
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Select "What About Me," and wait for about a minute.
A rather interesting message scrolls across the bottom of the dialog.
(Contributed by J. D. Sterling Babcock)
ResEdit 2.x:
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Hold down Shift, Option, and Command as you choose "About ResEdit."
You get the chance to enter "pig mode" (oink oink oink).
When you put ResEdit into pig mode, resources will be compacted and purged each time ResEdit goes through its event loop (several times a second). (However, since this makes ResEdit slower, it's not of much use outside Apple.)
(Contributed by Ian Neath.
(Info about "pig mode" from Chris Webster and Russell Street.)
Mr. Street adds that if you turn on pig mode while running ResEdit from a floppy disk the disk will "oink" a few times each second (most easily heard on an old Plus in a quiet room), but when I tried this my machine crashed. ;)
Also, just try holding down only command and option as you choose "About ResEdit"...
... to get some credits.
(as in who made ResEdit, not as in Star Trek money)
Simple Player (for QuickTime) 1.0:
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Hold down Option as you select "About Simple Player..."
The two movie frames now have greyscaled cats in them.
(Contributed by Scott Ryder)
SoundEdit:
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Choose "About SoundEdit".
A burning fuse bomb "system error" blows up.
Speed Disk (from Norton Utilities 1.1):
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Command-click the little rhomboid just in front of the string "Version 1.1".
The large letters that make up the name "SPEED DISK" swap themselves pair-by-pair until the name eventually unjumbles itself again. (Contributed by Andy Calder)
TeachText 1.1 and 1.2:
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Hold down the option key while you select "About TeachText..."
A list of (developer?) names appears.
(Contributed by Andrew Stoffel)
To Do! 3.1:
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Option-click on the copyright message at the bottom of the window.
A poem by the author appears. (You may have to make the window a little bigger to see all of it.)
(Contributed by Andrew Stoffel)
WriteNow 2.2:
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Select "About WriteNow", then option-click on the About dialog.
Little men run out and change all the letters one-by-one.
Here's a not-a-trick that every Tom, Dick, and Harriet out there has been reporting to me: Press Command-Option-Escape to kill the process currently in the foreground. This is useful if your machine is taking way too long to finish something and is ignoring you, or if an application has crashed -- sometimes you can use this trick to regain control of your machine long enough to save your work from other applications and restart your Mac. (After you use this trick, you should generally restart as soon as possible, because whatever was in memory may have been trashed.)
This may be useful, though: hold down Command-Option-P-R on a reboot to zap the PRAM when you're running System 7. Under System 6, you can zap it by holding down Command, Option, Shift, and Tab while you select the Control Panel DA from the Apple menu.
In the Apple HD SC Setup program, press Command-I to manually select a format interleave ration for your hard drive.
(Contributed by J. D. Sterling Babcock)
In Disk First Aid, press Command-S to display a window that shows you in detail exactly what the program's doing.
The Macintosh LC and Macintosh IIsi don't have restart and interrupt buttons, so to generate these signals from the keyboard, press Command-Control-Power (the key with the triangle on it) for "reset" and just Command-Power for "interrupt."
Mark Nagata has reported a really nifty trick to me that I don't have the resources to confirm, but I'd be muchly appreciative of any hacker with time on his hands who'd like to pin this one down.
The ingredients:
One Macintosh SE/30
System 7.0 or 7.0.1
Kerry Clendinning's "Easy Keys 1.5" Control Panel
QUED/M 2.09 (The text editor from Paragon; little brother of NISUS)
Assign some key combinations in Easy Keys Control Panel. Launch QUED/M, and press the key combination. Then, an "address error" bomb alert comes up, but you can click on "Continue" to keep going -- go ahead and click "Continue".
Everything is normal again until you quit QUED/M, at which time the screen blanks to all white except for the figure of a Mac and a "Mac SE/30 Engineering Hall of Fame" list. The only way out is to press the reset button.
Perhaps the address error hit the address for the "Hall of Fame" accidentally. Hence my request: can anyone pinpoint what this address is to run the credits?
