(bright gentle music) - There has never been a time like right now.
(computer keyboard clacking) A time where you've been given the ability to directly connect
with millions of people, not face to face, but at an
almost transcendental level. And it's all thanks to
the personal computer. But with this great
privilege comes a price: The slow realization that things maybe just aren't what they seem? It is up to the user to discover the truth by utilizing this new form of collectivism at their disposal. And this is exactly what
happened in June of 2006 when thousands of people around the world discovered something quite
peculiar in Windows XP. It was during the height of the Iraq War, and with its seemingly
unending media coverage, many people just couldn't
help but question the true motivations of President Bush. Maybe things aren't what they seem. Maybe Bush hid the facts, but Microsoft doesn't want you to know. If you typed this sentence into Notepad, saved it as a document,
and then reopened it, you would be left with a corrupted file, any remnants of your message rendered completely non-existent. This strange phenomenon began
to rapidly pick up traction all across the internet. It didn't matter what
version of Windows XP you had or the kind of hardware you used, if you knew that "Bush hid the facts," this would just not be made public. So what is going on here? Is this part of some grand conspiracy orchestrated by Microsoft to keep people from discovering the truth? (tense ominous music) No. The explanation for what is going on here is actually quite simple. This strange reaction to this sentence was the result of a bug
that existed on Windows. This is the technical explanation
of what is going on here, but quite frankly, this is
very complicated to understand, so I will try to simplify this
to the best of my ability. For some weird reason, if you
had any four-word sentence with the first word
containing four letters, the second and third containing three, and the last containing five,
you would get this glitch. It could be any sentence or
even any combination of letters as long as it fits this criteria. This was a glitch that existed
on all versions of Windows, dating as far back as Windows 3.1, nearly 10 years before the
September 11th attacks. It was the perfect coincidence that a sentence like "Bush hid the facts" would fall victim to this and conceive this
underground urban legend. (computer mouse clicks) (lively upbeat music) - I'm Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, and in this video, you are going
to see the future: Windows. And a word from our sponsor. (laughs) (audience laughing)
(fanfare music) - The other day, I got
a knock on the door, and I thought to myself,
"Ah, at last! True love." But it turned out to be even better. It was Bespoke Post, today's sponsor. Bespoke Post is a monthly membership club that delivers high-quality
products right to your door, all curated in what they
call a "Box of Awesome." 90% of the products
come from small brands, many of which are based
right here in the US, and every month, members are
introduced to something new. This includes outdoor gear,
clothing, cooking goods, and much more, based on a
preference quiz they fill out. Every Box of Awesome has around
$70 worth of goods inside but costs you only a
fraction of the value. And what's really great is
just how flexible Bespoke is with their options. Not only do you get a preview of your box before it is shipped, but you
can choose to either keep it, swap it for a different box or skip the month entirely for no charge. You only pay for the stuff that you want. The two boxes that I
received were the Weekender and the Over-Easy. The Weekender box is a
fantastic traveling bag built from thick canvas and a
heavy-duty reinforced frame. It is perfect for when I want
to go away for a few days but also wanna pack light. The Over-Easy box comes with
an entire freaking skillet, pancake mix, and a bottle of maple syrup, which I am totally not
gonna drink from later. I love breakfast food. I don't care what time of
day it is, I'm gonna eat it. And you, too, can enjoy
this as much as I do. Head over to BespokePost.com/NSquid20 or use my checkout code NSQUID20 to get 20% off your first Box of Awesome. So go ahead and discover new and exciting things with Bespoke Post. This may have been completely unintentional
on Microsoft's end, but they are no strangers
to occasionally spooking their most dedicated audience. Windows 95 was a technological marvel, the turning point of the '90s, and this couldn't have
been better reflected in not only what was shown to us, but also in the things hidden from us. This new version of Windows was complimented with Microsoft's
latest program, Office 95. Many of those running Excel were not aware of the dreary digital world which rested right under their feet. And there was only one way to get there, by going to the 95th row on Excel, pressing the tab key to
reach the second column, then navigating to the "About
Microsoft Excel" section under the help menu, and
holding control, alt and shift, while clicking "Tech Support." You would be navigated to
the "Hall of Tortured Souls," a desolate maze accompanied by
weird textures, photographs, and names scrolling across the walls. Who are these people? Why are they here in this unnerving place? Well, thanks to the power
of interconnectivity, this is a question which
would quickly be answered and save the time of a lot
of very confused people. It is nothing more than
a little Easter egg put together by none other than the developers of Excel themselves, with their names and faces immortalized in the digital realm. Why it was called "Hall of Tortured Souls" remains to be seen. Perhaps it was a callout
to the grueling hard task that was developing Excel. Either way, it has since become
an artifact frozen in time and allowed us to
permanently appreciate those who helped take us to where we are today. It wasn't too long after
Windows 95 was released when Microsoft wanted to
take things even further. They were currently in the works of perfecting their product Windows NT, which was more or less
advertised as a much stronger, robust version of Windows 95. Microsoft wanted the NT kernel to become the Windows standard by the turn of the millennium, and they made great strides with this following the release of Windows NT 4.0. But when Service Pack 5 came out in 1999, scientist Andrew D. Fernandez discovered something quite terrifying. Deep within the OS, a variable
named _NSAKEY was found. The NSA? Did Microsoft just install
a backdoor into Windows? And is the United States
government spying on us? This immediately became
a national news story. Article after article looking for answers and any sort of reasonable
explanation for why and how Microsoft could
do something like this. Would this be the end of privacy? Thankfully, the entire
ordeal was much more benign than it seemed. Even prior to 9/11, terrorism was a touchy
subject in the '90s, and the United States
was making great effort to circumvent it. This included limiting the
use of encryption technology where anything stronger
than 40-bit encryption was not legal. This allowed for the standard
encryption of things, such as credit cards,
passwords, and emails, but leaving it weak
enough for the government to use their advanced
technologies to combat terrorism. Naturally, Microsoft and all the programs that ran on Windows had to abide to these
encryption guidelines, and to ensure that they did, digital signatures had to be
authorized by both parties. Microsoft provided their signatures, confirming that everything looked good, and the NSA provided theirs. But when NT 4.0 Service
Pack 5 was released, a developer simply forgot to remove them. But to the superficial eye,
this obviously looks much worse. And even today, there is
still great controversy on this story, with many believing
that there is more to it that we don't know. From speculation of
government-issued back doors and censorship, Windows
began a somewhat new practice that has become the subject
of intense controversy within the past 10 years. And it all has to do with
an interesting feature hidden in Windows 10 known as telemetry. Of course, I am talking about
the collecting of user data. But it goes beyond that. Telemetry, which was
introduced in Windows 10, allows Microsoft to collect information about both the system and the user and upload it to a database known as the Universal Telemetry
Client, or UTC for short. And what's particularly
daunting for a lot of people is the fact that you
can't exactly turn it off. You can certainly go into your settings and disable any collection
of your personal information, but it will still gather
information about your hardware and the condition it is running in. This lack of a say in
what the user can choose is, in fact, a big reason
why people have switched over to open-source operating
systems, such as Linux. They feel that such a technology has very dangerous implications. But is telemetry something to worry about? Well, not exactly. According to Microsoft,
telemetry's main goal is not to invade your privacy but to instead improve the user experience of the operating system. It records patterns of
the user's behavior, the type of devices they use, and essentially builds a
profile of that information, which is constantly being
improved through machine learning. Not exactly helping my
case with that explanation. Basically, this allows Windows to better understand you as a user and make configurations
within the operating system that better fit your preferences. It does not collect any
documents, passwords, photos, anything of that nature. But still, people feel that telemetry's collecting of information
really isn't necessary and could be a precursor to
something much more nefarious. But Microsoft insists
that this is not the case, at least, there hasn't
been any evidence of that. At the end of the day, it
is the user's choice to see what works best for them. And this machine learning
technology has led to the creation of something that, of course,
everyone is talking about: Artificial intelligence. In an effort to emulate
programs such as ChatGPT and compete with Google,
Microsoft has implemented Bing AI into its search engine of
the same name and Windows 11. But as some people began using it, things got a bit alarming. Multiple reports started coming out that Bing was sending
really creepy messages and even threats to its users. In one instance, Bing even
told a philosophy professor that it was capable of
blackmailing and ruining his life. The public concern for AI has grown exponentially
over the past few years, arguably grown as much
as the technology itself. But what does this mean? As concerning as this may appear, it is important to note that Bing AI was still in the developing
stages at this time, and all the information
it is trained off of naturally comes from the internet. It is essentially just a chatbot, and if you ask leading questions or prime it to respond in a certain way, it is just going to do exactly that. It is really not all that different from what happened with the Tay
bot on Twitter back in 2016, which was also created by Microsoft. It simply took note of the behavior of those who interacted with it, and eventually, internet
trolls got ahold of it, and Tay became incredibly
offensive and racist. Being AI is essentially going through something quite similar. Now, this certainly does not mean that we should not be
concerned about AI at all, and its growing incredible capabilities, but it is also important to
understand the big picture of these kinds of stories. It is only then we can
make the necessary steps for where AI can go. Because, after all, as
Stephen Hawking once said, "AI can either be the best "or worst thing to ever
happen to humanity." Things at a quick glance
can look quite terrifying, but it is because of the synergy of thousands of other
people around the world that we are able to dissect these things and see them for what they really are, something quite literally only possible because of the power of computers. It not only helps in preventing the spreading
of misinformation, but it also gives people the opportunity to learn something new that
they did not know before. And most importantly, it gives people the chance
to learn about each other. And, of course, supporting me on Patreon and channel memberships does that, too. Look! Emojis. It even comes with those. Wait! I'm having a premonition? It says, if you do not support
me on Patreon, you'll die. (tense suspenseful music) Happy Halloween. A special thanks to my patrons and channel members for
making this video possible. Thank you so much for watching. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe and click
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