Understanding “Spin the Cog Wheel” Easter Egg in Windows 11
Recently an interesting Easter Egg was found in Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows 11 and went viral among Windows users. The Easter Egg allows Windows 11 users to spin the Cog Wheel or Gear icon present in various UWP apps such as Notepad, etc.
The Cog wheel or Gear icon is present in almost all software programs and apps to customize and control the app settings. Sometimes it’s referred as Tools icon. When you click on the Gear icon, it opens the particular program Settings page.
In Windows 11, if you click and drag the mouse button on the cog wheel icon in new Notepad app (which was released recently via Microsoft Store), the cog wheel icon starts spinning.
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Following animated image shows the spinning cog wheel Easter Egg live in action in Windows 11 Notepad app:
Same thing happens if you right-click on the cog wheel icon in Notepad.
The same Easter egg can be reproduced in newly redesigned Task Manager app present in Windows 11 Insider Preview builds.
But the question comes is it really an Easter egg or hidden secret feature in Windows 11? Answer is NO.
The spinning animation is not any Easter egg or fun stuff. The same thing is present in many other UWP apps (Store apps) such as Calculator, Clock, Feedback Hub, Media Player, etc.
If you open these apps and click on Cog wheel or Gear icon to open the app settings, the same spinning animation can be seen.
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Following image shows spinning cog animation in new Media Player app in Windows 11 (even if we left-click on the gear icon):
It’s actually a feature by design called “Motion” which has been developed to show the response to user’s interaction by animating the interface or UI. It helps the user in understanding that his input has been recorded or accepted.
This spinning animation is a part of WinUI (Windows UI) library which is a native user experience framework developed for desktop as well as UWP apps in Windows operating system.
An official page at Microsoft website provides detailed information about this spinning cog wheel animation. According to the official information:
Use animated icons to implement lightweight, vector based, icons and illustrations with motion using Lottie animations. Animated icons draw attention to specific entry points, provide feedback from state to state, and add delight to an interaction.
So now you see the spinning cog wheel or gear icon is not a hidden secret thing or Easter egg, it’s a feature by design in Windows 11.
Also Check:
[Easter Egg] Hidden Secret Fishing Game in Google Search
[Tip] List of Hidden Secret Easter Eggs in Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge
How unexciting!
Now THERE was an unproductive use of programming time. Perhaps they could expend that effort on fixing bugs instead of introducing MORE features that break.