Member-only story
Windows Has a God Mode. It’s Not What You Think.
I tried the viral Windows trick. It works, but the strange string behind it is much more interesting than the “hack.”
I was scrolling through Instagram when I came across one of those videos that begins with a dangerous sentence.
“Here’s a computer hack I bet you didn’t know.”
The trick was suspiciously simple. Create a new folder in Windows and rename it to this:
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
Open the folder and, supposedly, you have unlocked God Mode. That name makes it sound as though Windows has been hiding some forbidden administrator interface from us all these years. Perhaps there is a giant red button somewhere labelled Do Whatever You Want.
Naturally, I tried it. And it worked. But my cursiosty wasn’t completley satisfied.
The ordinary folder icon changed. Opening it revealed a huge collection of Windows settings and administrative tools, all gathered into one place. User accounts, firewall settings, power options, disk management, troubleshooting, certificates and dozens upon dozens of other controls were suddenly sitting in the same window.
