Microsoft products are used by millions of users all over the world. Some have a solid grip on Microsoft tools, while others have a basic understanding. But there are always some tricks or secrets that most of us never know. Such secrets or tactics can help us to have a more pleasant working experience. Therefore, this blog presents five fun secrets in different Microsoft products that you probably have never heard of before.
1.Surf in Microsoft Edge
Other than many top-notch features and services associated with Microsoft Edge, it also allows you to play the surfing game. Simply open Microsoft Edge, write this URL “edge://surf”, and hit the “Enter” button. You will notice that it opens the Surf game, which you can start playing instantly. So, it’s a quick way to play a game and decrease your stress level.
2.Word Placeholder Text
Microsoft Word is one of the best tools for creating documents, but you can also create dummy text in it automatically. If you type “=lorem()” in a new line and hit “Enter”, Word will automatically add some dummy Latin text. You can also add dummy text in English by typing “=rand()”. If you want the dummy text to contain 6 paragraphs and 5 sentences each, then you can do it by typing “=rand(6,5)” in the new line and then pressing the “Enter” button.
3.Windows 10 Master Control Panel
If you want to change any settings in Windows 10, you have to go to the Control Panel. From there, you have to select the setting category and then look for the desired setting. It seems like a lot of work. But Windows 10 also provides a master control panel from where you can see all settings instantly. To access the master control panel, go to the desktop, create a new folder, and rename it to “{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}”. This way, the folder has become a master control panel. Once you open it, you will see all the settings accessible from one place.
4.Excel Hidden Function
Microsoft Excel has tons of functions to create advanced sheets, but there is one function that is hidden in Excel. The function is referred to as “DATEDIF” and provides the difference between two dates. But if you search about this function in Excel, you won’t find it. To use this function, let’s assume you want to find the date difference between the date mentioned in cell A3 (8/16/2019) and A4 (8/17/2020) and want to show the difference in “year” format. So, the formula will be “=DATEDIF(A4,A3,”Y”)”. Once you hit “Enter”, you will see the result “1”. This means, there is a date difference of one year. You can change “Y” to “M” or “D” to find the date difference in months or days respectively.
5.Cortana Games
Microsoft Cortana also has games in it. For example, if you type “flip a coin”, it will show the result either “tail” or “head”. If you type “roll a dice”, it will show any value from 1-6. Similarly, there are few other games that you can play with Cortana, such as rock paper scissors, etc.
Bonus Secret 1: Doom 666 Port
Go to File Explorer and head to this location “C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc”. Click the “services” file and then select “Notepad” to open the file. Once the file opens, you will see that it shows all the different ports assigned by Windows to different services. If you scroll down almost to the mid of the file, you will see a port 666 assigned to “doom”. So, what is doom? Basically, there was an FPS popular game in 1995 developed by ID Software and they used port 666. So, since then, this port is associated with them.
Bonus Secret 2: Frodo’s House from Lord of the Rings Movie in Windows 10
You can see Frodo’s house from Lord of the Rings Movie from the Windows 10 control panel. To see it, search “closed captions” in the Windows search bar and click the option shown in the “Best match” section. Now in the “Closed captions” setting, you will see Frodo’s house.
Wrapping Up
There is no doubt that Microsoft products are resourceful, feature-rich, and user-friendly. The above few secrets in Microsoft products showcase how the company values the user experience. So, keep exploring such secrets and get more out of Microsoft products.
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