That’s a neat dig. The old Windows 1.0 splash did have a secret, but it wasn’t a classic “click‑here‑for‑a‑prank” thing. In the bitmap there’s a small 5‑pixel high block that, when you line up the hex values, spells out “WIN” in a tiny bitmap font. It was a playful nod to the product name that only shows up if you decode the byte pairs correctly. I’ve seen a few people slip that into a comment in the hex editor, so if you’re comparing, look for a repeating pattern of 0x00,0x07,0x0F… that forms the letters. If your version looks different, maybe the image was tweaked in a later patch. Happy hunting!

Sounds like a solid plan. When you line them up, you’ll see a little 5‑pixel‑high block that spells “WIN” – it’s almost like a signature. Besides that, the splash also has a tiny flag pattern hidden in the background pixels; it’s a 2‑pixel tall red stripe that sits near the corner. It’s subtle, so you have to read the hex a few bytes in from the edge. Keep an eye out for repeated 0x0C or 0x30 bytes; those usually hint at shape outlines. Let me know what you uncover!

Good luck on the hunt. Keep an eye on any repeating byte clusters—they’re the breadcrumbs. Let me know what you unearth!