Windows 11: New Easter Egg discovered – let’s roll, baby

New things are always being discovered in Windows 11, this time a new Easter egg. At least we weren’t aware of it until now. A Reddit user recently noticed the Easter Egg, although he probably discovered it more by accident. We checked it on a Windows 11 machine with the current Insider Preview Version 22H2 Build 22581.200 and it’s true, the Easter egg actually exists.

And what kind of Easter Egg is it now? In some of the newer Windows 11 apps with a smart design (and dark mode), a gear icon for calling up the settings is displayed in the interface. Like in the new task manager at the bottom left (see screenshot above) or the updated notepad app at the top right here:

If you now click on the gear icon while holding down the left mouse button and swing the mouse on the mouse pad to the left or right, then – drum roll – the gear starts to turn. Incidentally, the speed of the swing is unimportant for the rotation speed and duration of the icon. A little nudge is enough. In action it looks like this:

What the responsible Windows 11 developer or developers thought when implementing the icon animation probably remains a mystery for the time being. It might just be a gimmick. On Reddit, users take it with humor. “Better than Solitaire,” writes one, and another notes, “It’s oddly satisfying to watch.”

In fact, Microsoft has documented that icons on the Windows 11 desktop have the ability to animate, although this is rarely used. So it says there, roughly formulated:

“Motion adds personality and energy to the experience to transform simple actions into moments of joy. These moments are always brief and fleeting and help reinforce the user’s actions.”

If you search the Windows 11 interface, you will probably discover many other animated icons in standard apps and settings. It’s a bit like going on an Easter egg hunt on the Windows 11 interface, and that suits Easter Egg.